superadmin

Remember To Cool Down After Exercise

Published by superadmin on January 2, 2019 | Leave a response

Most people that workout regularly ensure they warm up so they get the best performance and reduce the potential for injury. However, some fail to cool down after exercise, which is just as important. Cooling down does many things for the body. Too often people are ready to get out of the gym and neglect this important part of their workout. There is a price to pay that’s often higher than you might think.

DOMS—delayed onset muscle soreness—can be prevented with a cool down session.

If you feel sudden pain in a muscle, which often occurs with runners in the back of the leg or have an abnormal contraction of a muscle, you have a muscle cramp. These are caused by microtears in the muscles. It can start within twenty four hours but may occur as long as forty-eight hours after a workout. Normally, you expect muscle aches, but not the debilitating pain of DOMS. A California State University study showed that a cool down cycling session after strength training could reduce the potential significantly. Stretching and cooling down after exercise can help relax the muscle tissue and help prevent the problem.

Cooling down helps prevent blood pooling in your legs and arms.

When you workout, you’re boosting the rate that your heart pumps. Moving helps it pump through the body. However, if you stop abruptly, the squeezing action of the muscles that help with that causes blood pooling by slowing its return back to the heart and also the brain because no muscles are helping it. It can be trapped by the valves in the veins. This causes you to get faint and lightheaded. While this isn’t typically dangerous, it can mask the potential of serious conditions that require medical attention. Most of all, it can be scary and quite concerning.

Cooling down helps prevent injuries.

That jelly-legged feeling after a tough workout comes from the muscle tissue being extremely warm, which means extremely pliable. That’s the best time to do some stretching and begin the slow lengthening over time that increases the range of motion. The improved range of motion helps reduce injuries and can relieve back problems that can occur when your hamstrings or hip flexors are too tight. It’s one of the best You’ll clear out the buildup of lactic acid in your muscles. That ten minutes of stretching helps the body to clear out this byproduct of exercise and prepare the muscles for the next endeavor.

Cool down helps the body come back to homeostasis, the body’s balanced state. The body does it slowly, giving the biggest benefit to the body from the endorphins that makes you feel good.
A short session of cooling down is worth the ten minutes. It slows the heart rate gradually, lowers the breathing rate and gradually allows the body temperature to cool.
Static stretching, swimming and even walking at a brisk pace are great cool down exercises after a tough workout. Save the ballistic and dynamic stretches for warming up.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Walking The Most Underrated Fitness Tool

Published by superadmin on December 26, 2018 | Leave a response

You might think of walking as a great way to see some of the beauty of Louisville or even something older people do in the mall for their fitness regimen. While both are true, walking should also be part of everyone’s workout program. It puts less stress on the knees, back and ankles and a good way for obese people to start working out. It’s good if you’re recovering from an injury and will help keep you in shape until you do.

Walking can be the first step to fitness.

There’s an inspiring story about a man that received a death sentence from his doctor because of his gross obesity. In fact, he could barely take a few steps because of his weight. He changed his future by walking. At first it was just a few steps. As he increased his movement, he started to lose weight. Eventually he made it to the corner, then around the block. Week by week he lost more weight and developed strength. Walking did this for him by burning calories and building strength. It can also risk of diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease and hypertension. It helps prevent osteoporosis and can boost your mood.

Walking is better than running in some cases.

Just like any exercise program, your level of fitness makes all the difference. For those out of shape, walking may be the very best exercise available. It can be at a pace that’s hard, but not incredibly uncomfortable. You can create an HIIT program with walking by varying your speed. Some studies show that walking may even be better for you than running when it comes to heart health. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology published a study that showed that people who walked on a regular basis were often healthier than people who ran regularly. That doesn’t mean you should stop running if you enjoy it, but don’t dismiss walking, either. Walking is easier on the ankles, knees and back, plus it’s better if someone is obese or overweight.

Do you feel too out of shape to go to the gym?

Yes, that does sound ridiculous, but often people feel that way. They don’t want to let anyone see how hard they struggle doing simple workouts. It’s a good way to start and build up strength and far superior to doing nothing and using the excuse you’re too out of shape. There are many health benefits to walking, but one of the most important is building your endurance. It provides a full body workout, especially when you swing your arms.

When you walk, a brisk pace is far better than a slow one for fitness, but you can set your own pace based on your level of fitness.
Walking on a regular basis may be easier to work into a schedule. You don’t need special clothes, except comfortable shoes. Take your tennis shoes to work and take a walk to lunch.
While walking is a great supplement to a workout program and can be a good way to start, you need other types of training too.
Check your posture and hold your head high when you walk. Proper form is important to all exercises, including walking.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

The Older You Are, The More Important Exercise Becomes

Published by superadmin on December 16, 2018 | Leave a response

You may not realize it, but as you get older, you actually need to exercise more to avoid the natural loss of muscle tissue. If you haven’t worked out before, getting results when you start may be tougher, especially when it comes to building muscle tissue. After the age of around thirty plus, muscles get you start losing mass. That process of loss is faster if you’re inactive. Everything slows, including metabolism, unless you choose to take charge. You can do that with a program of regular exercise.

Including strength training can help keep you independent in a number of ways.

Whether you’re a man or a woman, strength training as you age is important. It keeps the muscles strong. Strong muscles are necessary for strong bones. As they tug on the bones, the body sends more calcium to the area to maintain bone strength. Without weight bearing exercise, osteoporosis can occur. In addition to bone health, strength training also helps improve balance and prevent falls.

Working out can keep you younger on a cellular level.

There are a huge number of studies that show that exercise can help slow the process of aging, but also quite a large number that show it can actually reverse the aging process. One study followed a group of people that did both strength training and HIIT. They found that working out boosted the mitochondrial activity in their cells. The mitochondrial activity helped the cells stay younger and more vital. Guess who received the biggest boost in the activity. It was in the group aged 65 to 80. It boosted mitochondrial activity by 69 percent. Other studies showed that people worked out not only showed no decrease in muscle mass, but an increase in it and had an immune system that showed no signs of aging.

Pain, pain go away, don’t come back another day.

It won’t when you exercise. People historically talk about aching joints and other aches and pains from arthritis to back pain. When you workout, particularly do weight training, it reduces arthritis pain and builds the muscles, tendons and ligaments to help reduce the pain in the future. It’s important to work closely with the training and let him or her know your problem before you start. Working out also improves range of motion and help with blood sugar control. It can reduce insulin resistance and help those with diabetes.

Many studies have showed that improved functioning and amount of stem cells can turn back the clock. Physicians now using stem cell therapy for joints recommend exercising to boost the amount of stem cells available.
One study shows that getting some type of exercise for five minutes every fifty minutes if you’re normally sedentary can keep you even healthier—even if you workout regularly.
Choose to move more often and move faster. Studies show that older people who walk faster with longer strides actually live longer.
Regular exercise can help improve strength and balance to prevent falling. Falls account for many injuries amongst older men and women and the loss of independence.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Sticking With Your Fitness Program Over The Holidays

Published by superadmin on December 5, 2018 | Leave a response

Sticking with your fitness regimen during the holidays can be super tough. There’s so much going on that getting to the gym or taking time to workout almost seems impossible. To make it even worse, if eating healthy is a top priority there are tempting treats everywhere that can destroy your plans. The holidays can also create stress, which makes you want to grab those treats even more. There are ways to stay

Get the group to pitch in.

You need to find a way to ensure you have time to workout and that takes help. Create a list of everything that needs to be done, and then get the family to pitch in. If you’re normally the person that handles all the details, it’s time to change that. List all the things you need done and find out if the family really wants to maintain that tradition. Maybe some won’t care if the lights are on the outside of the house, but really hate to give up your holiday pastry. If they want the special pastry, get them to help you make it. Not only will they learn how to carry on the tradition, it will get done in less time. You don’t have to do it all alone. Teamwork takes the stress out and can make it fun.

Traditions had to start somewhere.

Have you ever considered having a healthy holiday. I have a client that started a new family tradition. Each person brings a sweet treat that’s healthy and a healthy dish. The family goes for a walk after dinner, too. Everyone loves the chance to create a dessert that’s healthy. She even created one that has no sugar or sweeteners outside of dried fruit. You don’t have to go that far, simply changing some of the fare can make it a healthier meal.

Plan ahead.

Carve out time in your schedule to workout, even if it’s early in the morning. Don’t let fate decide whether you’ll have time to go to the gym or not. It’s an appointment you must keep. It will keep your energy level high so you can accomplish even more. Plan meals ahead and have healthy snacks ready in the refrigerator for quick snacks or an easy meal.

Don’t try to be everything for everybody. Take time for yourself to just relax. Whether it’s taking a nap, a bubble bath or just sitting in a quiet room, carve out some “me” time.
Remember, exercise is a stress buster. It can be the perfect way to get rid of the holiday stress and feel good again.
If you worry about overeating at parties, don’t skip meals before you go to save calories. Instead, fill up at home on low calorie foods so you won’t be as tempted to overeat. Eating slowly also helps.
You can give yourself a pass when it comes to special holiday meals. Eating healthy doesn’t mean you can never have foods you love. It just means you don’t eat them as often and watch portion control.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Favorite Indoor Activities

Published by superadmin on November 27, 2018 | Leave a response

If you’re a runner, jogger or other outdoor exerciser or simply need some indoor activities for you or you and the kids to do on your day away from the gym when the weather is cold, snowy or rainy, you’ll love some of these ideas. Having active games and fitness routines ready will help you stay consistent to your workout program and avoid skipping it entirely. So if the roads are bad this winter, here’s a go-to list you can use. Feel free to add more indoor activities to it!

Dance the day away.

Well, maybe not the whole day but a half hour to an hour of dancing can be fun. You can even combine it with house cleaning and boogie down while washing walls or windows and Samba through sweeping. If the kids are joining you, all the better, but stick with them doing the tasks. Have them dance through cleaning up the living room, then join them in dancing through the disaster in their bedroom. If you don’t want to combine household tasks, have music downloads to your phone or on a hand held device that you can stop at any time and Freeze dance. When the music stops, everyone holds their pose.

Have an at home personal gym.

It’s not what you think. Your at home personal gym can be resistance bands and a yoga mat. In fact, if you’re doing body weight exercises, you only need the mat or a blanket to throw on the floor. Talk to your personal trainer about creating some body weight exercise routines you can use anywhere. Weight training is okay at home if you want to use milk jugs filled with water or large cans of soup as weights. Doorway pull-up bars can also be an inexpensive addition to your collection of workout tools.

Get in your workout, but spend time to create healthy meals.

It’s not always easy to create healthy meals, particularly if it’s just a day before grocery shopping. Take some time on those rainy days to plan not only the menus but also the shopping list. You’ll find that many of the ingredients you use for one meal are also used in others, so you’ll often save money doing it this way. Eating healthy doesn’t have to cost a lot or even be hard. Plan cooking triple recipes so you have enough to pack away and freeze for other meals. To make it even easier, we offer an internet program for meal planning so you don’t have to do all the work.

Have a jump rope or hula hoop ready for exercise. Make sure you clear an area thoroughly before you start. Kids will love doing this with you, so get one for each child, too. It’s a super inexpensive way to get the kids involved with fitness.
If you have a sturdy coffee table, sturdy chair or a really thick book, use it as a workout tool and do a stair stepper. You can watch TV as you step up onto it and back down to the floor.
Marching in place and lifting your knees really high can be exhausting and a great cardio workout at home when the weather’s bad.
Bad weather isn’t the only reason people workout at home. If you find that working out at home is your best option, check out one of our internet programs to get guidance from a personal trainer.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Dieting Vs Lifestyle Changes

Published by superadmin on November 19, 2018 | Leave a response

If you’ve had it with yoyo dieting, it’s time to think about making lifestyle changes. Healthy lifestyle changes can mean eating healthier, working out regularly, getting more sleep and drinking more water. It definitely doesn’t mean starving yourself or eating only certain foods and feeling deprived because of it. One reason I don’t recommend dieting is that diets just don’t work. You may lose weight, but then go back to old eating habits and the weight returns.

Dieting is restrictive.

While changing your eating habits takes time, you may have to follow a few meal plans until you learn all the tricks and ways to save calories. With dieting, the meal plan is strict and doesn’t change. Dieting always ends. That can occur when you lose the weight you want to lose or end in failure with a box of chocolate chip cookies and a pint of ice cream. Eating unhealthy or high calorie foods doesn’t mean your healthy eating plan is over. You’re allowed a “cheat day” or two. You simply go back to healthy eating the next day.

There’s loads of variety once you learn to eat healthier.

If you don’t feel like eating grilled fish that night, but prefer a chicken dish instead, it’s no biggie when you’re eating healthy and adopt it as a lifestyle change. In fact, I’ve had people who never learned more than the point where they give up sugar and processed foods actually lose weight. That was all they did! It can be a no brainer or as knowledge laden as you choose. Simply cutting out soft drinks and sweets can help shed lots of weight over time. Being prepared with an apple or some nuts for a mid morning or mid-afternoon snack is a smart option you’ll learn from healthy eating.

There’s no counting calories or carbs with healthy eating.

Are you worn out trying to journal all your food and count the calories or carbs on your new diet. It’s time to start thinking about eating healthier instead. It’s all about making smarter decisions when it comes to food and learning how to make substitutions to add nutrition and cut out excess calories. Some fun tips include cutting back on sugar or oil in baked goods and substituting applesauce instead.

Eating healthy lasts a lifetime. Once you learn how and make it a habit, you’ll never have to worry about gaining weight again.
Eating healthy isn’t just about weight loss, although that’s a very nice side effect. It’s all about ensuring you have good nutrition to keep the body strong and healthy.
Eating healthy is freeing. It’s about letting your body be your guide to what it needs.
Healthy eating is more about living a better life and being healthier. It becomes the way you want to live, not a punishment for gaining weight.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Change Your Attitude Toward Fitness

Published by superadmin on November 5, 2018 | Leave a response

There’s a reason I love working with my clients in Louisville, KY. It’s because of their amazing dedication and enthusiasm when it comes to fitness. That makes my job so much more rewarding and also helps them get fit faster. Just like them, your attitude toward fitness makes all the difference when it comes to getting results. If you dread working out and eating healthy, you’ll find excuses for not doing it. Take a personal inventory of your attitude and look for ways to make it better, even if it’s already good. Below are reasons people give for not getting fit and the logic that can help change their attitude.

If you hate doing the same old thing every workout, you probably don’t have a personal trainer.

One reason people enjoy working out with a personal trainer is they’re sure they’ll never be bored. Trainers provide new workouts frequently. Not only does it keep you from the boredom that can occur, it also helps you lose weight faster. When you do the same movements long enough, your body becomes efficient at them. That means it burns fewer calories, so you won’t lose as much weight. If you’re working out on your own at a box gym where you go from machine to machine and hate every minute of it, it may be time to switch to a personal trainer and workout you enjoy

Getting fit means eating healthy and you feel deprived when you diet.

The key word here is diet. When you eat healthy, you aren’t dieting, but making smarter choices when it comes to food. You’re learning how to pick the foods that are lower in calories but far higher in nutrition. You’ll learn to make simple substitutions, like using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream or eating brown rice instead of white rice. One thing is certain, healthy eating will never leave you feeling deprived or hungry. You can even eat your favorite foods, just not as often and remembering portion control.

You’re too busy to spend time worrying about working out or eating healthy.

One of the most amazing results that comes from a fitness program is the extra energy you have. You’ll be amazed at how you zip through your work and have time to spare. At first, it may be tough to figure out how to fit everything into your schedule, but after a few weeks, you’ll find you have ample time for working out and some time left over for yourself. You’ll bypass that mid morning and mid-afternoon drug out feeling and be able to go at top speed throughout the day.

If you’re doubtful you’ll be able to succeed and hate to spend the money, just to be disappointed, you need to come to Body Sculptors. We guarantee success or your money back.
If cost is a problem, don’t worry. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive and our group programs are extremely reasonable.
If you find that going to the gym after work is just too demanding, try working out in the morning for better results.
When you finally decide you really want to get into shape, all the excuses and reasons will melt away and you’ll do it!

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

A Healthy Diet Is The Key To Fitness

Published by superadmin on October 25, 2018 | Leave a response

Which is more important for fitness, a healthy diet or a program of regular exercise? While I always tell my clients at my Louisville facility that weight loss starts with a healthy diet, to maximize that weight loss, a program of regular exercise is also important. You won’t be at peak performance if you don’t have both. Adding adequate sleep, good hydration and avoiding abusive alcohol, tobacco and drug use is also important. No matter how much you exercise or do the other important things to constitute healthy living, if you aren’t eating healthy, you won’t get the healthy results you want.

A healthy diet includes whole foods and eliminates processed foods.

While not all processed foods are equally as bad for you, they pale by comparison when you see all the benefits of whole foods. Whole foods are foods that are closest to their natural form. They don’t come in boxes or bars, but are foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, grain fed beef, free range eggs and butter from grass fed cows. They go back to how food was meant to be consumed, fresh from the field or garden, without toxic chemicals and with all the nutrients they contain fresh off the vine.

It’s easier to skip the soft drink or fries than it is to exercise off the calories.

If you drink two to three soft drinks a day or eat a large order of fries, you’ve consumed all the calories you’d normally burn at a workout. So what do you do? Exercise longer? Exercise with more intensity? Skip the fries and soft drink? The last answer is correct. If just one order of fries can wipe out all the extra benefits from one exercise session, it means the key to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle is diet, with exercise supplementing it. To match the calories from a large order of fries, you’d have to eat 240 string beans, 120 asparagus spears, 72 medium stalks of celery or 12 large tomatoes to get the same number of calories from these vegetables. That not only is far more filling, it also provides far more nutrition.

Your diet should supply your body with all the nutrition necessary.

In order to be your healthiest, you need the proper nutrition. That only comes from a well rounded plate with healthy fat, carbohydrates and proteins. It should contain a rainbow of colors when it comes to fruit and vegetables. Each color of vegetables and fruit contains different nutrients and phytonutrients. For instance, blueberries and all deep red fruits and veggies, including red cabbage, contain anthocyanins. They can help prevent cancer, improve your mind, lower your cholesterol and improve vision. Yellow and orange fruits and veggies provide carotenoids that convert to vitamin A.

If you don’t have adequate nutrition, especially adequate protein, you won’t have the material to build muscle mass or the energy to workout.
A healthy diet drives weight loss and good health. Exercise helps boost the effects and maintain weight loss. You need both for good health, but a healthy diet should always come first.
Ultimately the goal is to build strong muscles, improve flexibility and endurance, while leaving you feeling your fittest. You won’t get that healthy feeling if you only exercise and ignore a healthy diet.
Not only will a healthy diet boost your weight loss, it also can improve your skin, hair and overall appearance.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Give Yourself An Early Christmas Gift Of Good Health And Energy

Published by superadmin on October 16, 2018 | Leave a response

It’s not too early to start thinking about the holidays, especially if you want to give yourself the Christmas gift of good health and energy. It’s not unusual for people who make holiday gifts to start early and even more important if you’re giving yourself the gift of a healthy lifestyle. If you start today, you’ll see the results you want for the holidays. Not only will you feel more energetic, you’ll look better, too. Dedicate the next few months to fitness and you’ll find sticking the program is even easier when the busy holiday times come around. You’ll have more energy to deal with all the chaos that the holidays bring, too.

You’ll learn how to make smarter decisions when it comes to food.

Getting fit isn’t all about working out, it’s about what you eat, too. Healthy eating isn’t dieting, but simply making smarter choices about food. You’ll learn how to choose food more wisely and make substitutions to make that choice healthier and lower in calories. Simple things like substituting Greek yogurt instead of sour cream to top potatoes not only boost nutritional values, they shave calories, too. Eating healthier can mean cooking differently and even changing some recipes. It can mean substituting applesauce for oil or sugar in baked goods and grilling, baking or broiling meat instead of frying. If you start now, you’ll be armed with all the information you need to avoid the extra pounds that normally come with the holidays.

You’ll start to see results of your workout in a month and by the holidays see significant changes.

If you stick to the program, it won’t be long before you see the difference in your fitness level. Not only will you notice that you have more energy, you’ll notice the difference in how you look. Of course, the longer you workout, the more impressive your appearance will become and the more energy you’ll have. If you have several months, the difference will be amazing and you may need to even buy new clothes for the holiday. It will be nice to tell friends and family your new size if they want to buy clothing for you as a gift.

You don’t have to pay a fortune if you workout in a group program or use the internet version.

Many people worry about the cost of personal training, but they often don’t realize there are other options, besides simply doing private sessions. Group training is a good way to save money, yet you also get a personalized program and best of all, enjoy the comradery of others in the group that also provide a great deal of motivation. You can even use online training if going to the Louisville gym is a problem.

There’s no time better than now to start. Why wait to boost your energy level and look your best, when you can ring in the new year with a whole new body and attitude.
Learning to eat and cook healthier dishes can help make the holidays healthier for the whole family. You’ll have the knowledge to make the meals not only delicious, but also nutritious.
Starting today can give you a headstart on preparing for the holidays when life is at its busiest. You’ll have the program scheduled into your life by the time that the holidays roll around.
You owe it to yourself and your family to be your healthiest. Too often people put their needs to the end of the line, but in order to help others, they have to be healthy.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness