Fitness & Wellness

Should I Push Myself Or Pace Myself?

Published by superadmin on May 15, 2024 | Leave a response

We offer diversified workouts at Body Sculptors in Louisville, KY, because everyone is different. Some people like to push themselves. Their program will differ from people who prefer or have to pace themselves. Our programs do both, but we do it in varying proportions based on the person’s goals and preferences. Pushing hard can help you achieve more, but when it’s too hard, it can cause an injury that can set you back months. On the other hand, pacing yourself can improve your endurance or limit your progress if you do it too much.

It’s good to pace yourself when you’re first learning an exercise.

Form is everything. It determines whether you’ll reap the benefits of an exercise or cause you to have an injury. When you’re first learning something new, pacing yourself is best. You can pace yourself for the first few sessions when you’re learning and focus only on form, then start pushing harder each time. The older you are or the more sedentary your lifestyle, the longer you need to pace yourself until you get into shape. You’ll take longer to heal and experience more exhaustion initially.

If you’re half-heartedly exercising and calling it pacing, you won’t get the results you want.

You’re not maximizing your exercise time if you never break a sweat or can sing throughout the workout. Push yourself a little harder to make sure you get into shape. When you do the same number of reps at the same pace as you did several months ago, your body becomes efficient at the workout and burns fewer calories. Constantly change your workout to keep it challenging. Just how difficult it should be depends on you.

Know your body.

Feeling extreme stress or difficulty breathing should tell you to back off a little. If you’re doing strength training, don’t push yourself too much with daily intense workouts. Strength training causes micro tears in the muscles. The healing process creates scar tissue that builds muscle and strength. If you don’t allow the muscles to heal they won’t get stronger. It can affect your immune system, diminish muscles, and cause personality changes and problems sleeping.

If you can still gasp out a few words while you’re working out and don’t feel like you need to quit, push a little harder. If you can barely stand or breathe, give yourself a break and pace yourself.
Give yourself between 48 and 72 hours between tough workouts or strength training on the same muscle groups. You can still do recovery exercises like walking. It’s one way of pacing yourself.
If you can’t push very hard for any reason, especially health, do something. Even if you aren’t maximizing your workout time, you’re still getting exercise. Don’t give up. After a few weeks or months, you’ll be able to push yourself harder.
Pushing too hard during the first week can cause aches and pains that make you want to quit. Unfortunately, it’s when most people don’t pace themselves, and one reason exercise programs end.

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

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Benefits Of Green Tea

Published by superadmin on May 5, 2024 | Leave a response

What you drink is just as important as what you eat when it comes to health benefits. If you drink soft drinks regularly, consider switching to green tea. Don’t add sugar or cream to keep it healthier. If you need a bit of sweetener, add a drop or two of honey. Green tea aids in weight loss and shedding visceral fat—also known as belly fat. Both diet and regular soft drinks increase belly fat. Green tea contains nutrients that can keep you healthier and extend your life.

The antioxidants in green tea provide some of the health benefits.

Green tea contains polyphenols. Polyphenols are antioxidants that reduce inflammation. That can help prevent cancer and heart disease. Green tea also contains catechins. EGCG—epigallocatechin-3-gallate—is a catechin that is also a powerful antioxidant that protects cells from damage. Cell damage leads to serious conditions. It’s also the cause of aging. Studies show that drinking more green tea daily helps you live longer and healthier.

Green tea may boost your metabolism.

You’ll get cell protection from EGCG and a boost in your metabolism. It works with the caffeine found in green tea. Some long-term studies show that people who drank two cups of green tea daily had lower body fat. Other studies show that people taking caffeine and EGCG for 12 weeks had significant weight and fat loss. The EGCG also helped prevent brain damage from diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia. The EGCG can also help reverse damage. Studies show that people who drank three cups a day for years had less cognitive impairment. It also reduced the potential for Parkinson’s by 30 to 40 percent.

You’ll have healthier teeth and gums when you drink green tea.

Green tea helps fight gingivitis, kills germs, and fights tooth decay when you drink it daily. It has antifungal and antibiotic benefits for your mouth and can improve oral health. It’s a good option for improving your breath because of its antibacterial effect. Have a cup after a meal or midday as an oral refresher. Green tea can also help keep bones stronger, especially during perimenopause. For bone strength, use matcha, a type of green tea.

Green tea has caffeine that boosts energy and concentration without causing the shakes. It increases the production of dopamine and contains L-theanine, increasing an anti-anxiety effect.
Green tea boosts antioxidants that help stop LDL cholesterol oxidation in the blood. That can cause arterial disease. Studies show drinking it lowers the risk of heart disease by as much as 31%.
Green tea can help maintain stable blood sugar levels. That can help prevent insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a precursor of type 2 diabetes. It also causes sugar cravings and increases belly fat.
Green tea can fight signs of aging. It also reduces the effects of photoaging. It contains vitamin C, with matcha tea having the most significant amount. Vitamin C can boost your immune system.

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

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Is Yoga Good For Anxiety?

Published by superadmin on April 25, 2024 | Leave a response

Many therapists now use exercises as an adjunct therapy. Studies show that it helps speed progress toward reducing depression and anxiety. Exercise is as beneficial as some medications and has no negative side effects but makes you healthier. It stimulates endorphin production, burns off stress hormones, increases circulation, and boosts the production of beneficial bacteria in the gut that affect mood. Compared to other exercises, yoga may offer even more benefits toward reducing anxiety.

Yoga can help you train your body to reduce the signs of anxiety.

Shortness of breath, heart palpitations, chest pain, and dizziness are all signs of anxiety. Deep breathing exercises from yoga can help you control many signs of anxiety. You can break the cycle of its physical manifestations by using deep breathing exercises. Deep breathing switches the body from the sympathetic nervous system that controls the fight or flight response, to the parasympathetic nervous system that puts your body in relaxed mode. You’ll feel almost instant relief from stress when you focus on deep breathing.

Yoga helps you clear your mind and meditative practices can reduce stress.

One internal manifestation of anxiety is a racing mind. Your body undergoes the same changes from the perceived danger as it would from real danger. Meditation isn’t necessarily part of every yoga session, but quieting the mind often is. In some ways, it diverts your focus from your problems and focuses them on getting into poses. Just changing your focus does a lot to reduce an anxiety attack.

Yoga can improve flexibility and stretch the muscles.

One symptom of an anxious person is muscle tension. While the cause of anxiety is more complex, prolonged stress can cause anxiety and also cause muscle tension. The movements in yoga can help reduce the tension in the muscles. By doing that, it can also reduce the feeling of anxiety. Each stretch and movement can bring relief. It can make you more aware when you’re tightening muscles so you can relax them immediately.

Yoga can help you modulate your stress response and give you tools to help manage anxiety. If your anxiety is mild, traditional yoga classes help, but there are yoga classes specifically to treat anxiety.
Yoga can make you more mindful of your body processes and give you more control. It makes people more aware of the body-mind connection. The practice of yoga can create new neural pathways.
If you suffer from anxiety and don’t have time for an entire class, using breathing techniques can help. Deep belly breathing, alternate nostril breathing, and lion’s breath are three examples that help anxiety.
Yoga can improve your posture and make you feel stronger and more confident. That boost in self-confidence can help you overcome social anxiety.

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

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Best Workouts To Build Muscle

Published by superadmin on April 5, 2024 | Leave a response

At Body Sculptors in Louisville, KY, we help people become their fittest and reach their fitness goals. We include all types of fitness, strength-building, endurance, balance, and flexibility. Many clients want to build muscle, and others want to boost their strength. Each goal requires a change in the fitness routine. Building larger muscles requires lighter weights and more repetitions. Building strength requires heavier weights and fewer repetitions. We’ll create a program that’s right for you. Here are some favorite muscle-building workouts that also build strength.

If you want to build lean muscle mass faster, try circuit training.

You’ll work more muscles at one time and build faster by creating a circuit. You can use weights, kettlebells, landmine, or bodyweight exercises. When you do circuits, you do either a specified number of repetitions of each exercise or a specific amount of time for each exercise to create a set. Keep the rest between each set very short. One muscle builder that hits all major muscle groups is one minute of each, body squats, push-ups, chin-ups, flutter kicks, lunges, V-ups, and single-leg hip thrusts.

Add weight to your workout.

Doing any exercise with added weight boosts the difficulty level and increases the muscle you build. Doing squats holding dumbbells in each hand can boost muscle growth. A standing barbell overhead press is excellent for your shoulders, and a barbell bench press will build chest muscles. Most people think of dumbbell curls when they want to build biceps because they work! Use a barbell row for back muscles.

Compound exercises build more muscles in less time.

Squats, lunges, and variations like the sumo squat or walking lunges can build more muscles in less time. Because you’re using more muscle groups, you’re also burning more calories to help burn any fat that can hide them. Many of the best muscle-building exercises mimic daily tasks so they improve functional fitness to help prevent injuries. A military press, parallel bar dip, and bench step-ups with weights are good examples. Deadlifts, squats, bench presses, and shoulder presses are called the big four for strength and muscle building. Always focus on form when doing any exercise, especially ones involving weights.

Building muscles also involves a healthy diet. You need adequate protein to build muscle tissue. Eat a snack before and after working out that contains carbs for energy and protein for recovery.
Never do muscle-building exercises in the same muscle groups two days in a row if your workout is intense. Always give your muscles 48-72 hours to heal the micro tears the exercises cause.
Consider doing battle ropes for building muscle tissue. They work muscles on various planes and at different tensions throughout the exercise. Running stair laps is another muscle-building workout.
Get adequate sleep and hydration. Your body repairs tissue when you sleep. The repair is what builds muscle tissue. Lack of hydration can diminish your progress in the gym. Always check with your healthcare professional before starting any fitness program.

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

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Yoga Benefits You Haven’t Heard Before Now

Published by superadmin on March 25, 2024 | Leave a response

You might wonder why a gym that uses traditional exercises to help people get into shape would include an article about yoga. It’s because we want you to be your healthiest and know there are other options besides bodyweight exercises or free weights. Yoga is also complementary to our program. It provides relaxation and boosts flexibility. Learning breathing techniques can become part of your gym workout to bring even more benefits. Many yoga moves have been incorporated into traditional calisthenics and bodyweight exercises because they work.

You’ll improve your posture with yoga.

That might not be the most surprising benefit, but it leads to other health benefits you might not consider. Good posture makes you look thinner. It boosts your endurance since your body is more aligned and doesn’t have to fight gravity as much to stay erect. Good posture prevents back, shoulder, head, neck, and joint pain. It also helps boost digestion and aids in breathing.

Yoga can be a brain booster.

Yoga works the body and the brain. It helps boost focus and builds mindfulness that translates to other activities. Learning to calm your mind and focus can help when faced with an overwhelming challenge and help kick in creativity to think outside the box. Learning the poses boosts brain power, too. Just like all physical activities it creates new neural pathways. It can help lower stress, help reduce depression, and relieve anxiety.

Yoga promotes mindfulness that can help you lose weight.

Yoga can help you become more mindful and get in touch with your body. When you eat mindfully, you slow your food consumption by savoring every bite. This way of eating provides more enjoyment from each bite and causes you to eat slower. That gives extra time for your stomach to signal to the brain that it’s full so you eat less. It also can help prevent food cravings that can add extra pounds.

As with all types of exercise, yoga can help relieve chronic pain. It can loosen tight muscles that cause pain and build muscles around joints to relieve the pressure. That can reduce pain from arthritis.
You might not realize it, but yoga can build strength. Many of the movements build muscle strength. One example is the Phalak asana, which is known as the forearm plank in Western bodyweight exercises.
Yoga can boost circulation, help improve digestion, and increase the synovial fluid circulation in the joints. It can improve the detoxification of internal organs by relieving pressure on them.
Yoga helps you sleep better at night. Traditional Western exercise programs also help. Yoga takes it one step further by adding breathing techniques that help you relax.

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

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Foods You Should Be Avoiding For Weight Loss

Published by superadmin on March 15, 2024 | Leave a response

If your goal is weight loss, you have to cut calories and eat healthier food. That’s why we provide all the information you need to learn how to create healthier meals. Exercise alone isn’t enough. You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. You could jump rope for an hour and still not burn off the calories from a Classic Cinnabon cinnamon roll. Combining a healthy diet with exercise is the best way to take off weight, as it improves your health and boosts your energy.

Some things look healthy, but they aren’t.

Most people know that candy bars are packed with sugar. They often have no redeeming qualities like extra nutrients but are high in calories. A small candy bar covered in chocolate can add 200 to 300 extra calories to your diet. While they satisfy your urge for something sweet, it only lasts a short time and then you need more. Maybe you think eating a granola bar would be a good alternative. You might be right in some cases, but not in most. In most cases, they’re glorified candy bars that masquerade as a healthier option.

Ban fries and chips should be banned from your diet.

French fries, chips, and any fried food should never be part of a healthy diet. They’re high in fat and it’s not the healthy type of fat. There’s a direct link between gaining weight, obesity, and French fries or potato chips. Eating one or two fries or one or two chips won’t hurt too much, but who does that? As far as I know, very few people, if any.

Exclude cookies, cakes, pastry, and food with refined flour from your diet.

You’re probably already aware that these should be cut from your diet. Pastries, cakes, and cookies are loaded with sugar and refined white flour. They don’t provide satiety for long and leave you hungrier within less than an hour of eating them. Foods that contain refined flour include pasta, bread, and bakery goods.

Sugary drinks like soft drinks are high in calories and nothing but sugar water with flavoring. You might think fruit juice is a better option, but it’s not. It’s high in sugar and doesn’t contain the fiber that slows the absorption of the sugar. Some even have added sugar.
Most frozen treats like ice cream are loaded with sugar and high in calories. If you want an alternative to ice cream, cut a banana into rounds and freeze them. Put the frozen rounds in a blender until it’s a smooth ice cream-like substance that’s healthier.
Drink plain black coffee and avoid the added sugar and cream. Steer clear of the fancy Frappuccinos that are more like coffee-flavored milkshakes. The best thing to drink is water. It’s refreshing and keeps you hydrated.
Leave processed meat and fast food off your list of potential dinners. Processed meats contain high amounts of sodium and chemicals. Fast foods, whether pizza or burgers, often are high in calories and low in nutrition.

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

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Can I Burn More Calories Without Exercising?

Published by superadmin on March 5, 2024 | Leave a response

Some people in Louisville, KY, would prefer not to exercise or don’t for other reasons. They often look for ways to burn more calories without exercising. You may wonder if that’s possible and the answer is a resounding yes. It doesn’t take a miracle drug or some complicated equipment. Most people can make the changes immediately. Is it as good as adding an exercise program to your schedule? The answer is a resounding, “No.” Exercise does more for you than burn calories. It helps boost your overall health and builds endurance, flexibility, and strength.

You’ll burn calories even while you sleep.

Your body constantly works and requires energy even when you sit still. The number of calories you require is called your basal metabolic rate. It accounts for calories necessary for regulating your body temperature, breathing, keeping your heart beating, and all other functions. Just thinking uses 20% of the calories you burn. If you sit up you burn more calories than if you lay down. Moving about burns additional calories even though you might not be exercising.

Boost the calories you burn by moving more.

If you sit at a desk, roll your shoulders, move your legs, tap your toes, or raise your arms. These are non-exercise movements that can burn extra calories. If you remember back in school the kid who used to fidget and wiggle was often thinner than the others in class. Some people believe that fidgeting is a self-regulating activity to burn extra calories from overeating. It increases the number of calories you burn 24/7.

Change your habits to increase activity.

If you park further from the store and walk or take the stairs instead of the elevator, you’ll burn more calories without exercise. If you work at a desk, get up and move. Studies show that you should get up and move for five minutes every hour to maximize the benefits of an exercise program and stay fitter. Stand up and pace about when you’re on the phone. Do a walking meeting or walk to lunch and talk there.

Studies show that people who walk faster live longer. It’s also a way to burn extra calories. Maybe there’s a link between those two. Increasing the calories you burn and losing weight can extend your life.
You don’t have to start a complete exercise program to get benefits from doing a few exercises throughout the day. If you’re watching TV, do a plank. Get out of your seat and do a few squats or Dr Zachary Bush’s four-minute nitric oxide dump.
Give in to your urge to move to the music. How often have you listened to your favorite fast song and wanted to move your body to the music? Go ahead and do it. You’ll burn more calories.
Get up and do a chore. Get up and do five-minute chores once an hour. Fold laundry or take out the trash before it’s overflowing. Create a plan to clean out your closet using a few minutes each day.

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

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Let Your New Fitness Journey Begin

Published by superadmin on February 25, 2024 | Leave a response

How do you begin a fitness journey? By putting one foot in front of the other and getting started. Some people hate to plan and go forward, eventually stopping either for good or to reevaluate. Others spend all their time planning but never follow through. Either way, you won’t make the advancements of someone who sets goals and immediately sets them in progress. Getting fit starts with an idea. To make it work, it takes consistent effort.

Keep your reason for your goal in front of you at all times.

Whether it’s working out regularly or eating healthier, keep your goal out in front. That means making sticky notes to put on the refrigerator and cupboards, or a reminder on your phone to exercise. If you haven’t clearly defined your goal, created a way to measure it, and reach it, knowing your reason for your goal is imperative. If you want to lower your blood pressure with exercise, your measurement is your blood pressure, just as your weight is for weight loss.

Start by doing what you can.

If you can’t do an entire workout, do what you can. One man was so severely obese that doctors told him he would die if he didn’t lose weight. He couldn’t run a block but could walk to the corner. Eventually, he could walk several blocks and then run. He lost the excess weight and is now running marathons. He did what he could. To start eating healthier, focus on giving up food with added sugar first. Once you accomplish that for an extended period, it will be easier to eat healthier. You’ll be amazed at how sweet natural fruit tastes.

Hold yourself accountable and don’t quit if you fall off the wagon.

Track your progress and hold yourself accountable for sticking with your goals. Permit yourself a few slip-ups or intentional breeches, like having a small amount of your favorite pie that your aunt makes for family gatherings. If you fall off track, all is not lost. Don’t compound the problem by eating everything in sight or giving up exercise entirely. Start fresh the next day.

Getting fit is all about consistency. Put your workout in your schedule as an appointment and treat it like any other appointment. Meal plan to ensure you have healthy meals ready to eat.
Find ways to move more. Besides a regular workout, finding ways to move more is imperative. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator. Park further from the store and walk.
Keep score. Track your progress every day. Write down your workout and how difficult or easy it was. When it’s too easy, change your workout to become more challenging.
Always warm up or cool down when you exercise. Stay hydrated and sip on water throughout exercise. Get adequate sleep to ensure your journey is easier. Lack of sleep increases the hunger hormone.

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

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Want To Be Faster? Here’s How You Can Do It.

Published by superadmin on February 15, 2024 | Leave a response

Learning to run faster starts with the proper form. Like any exercise, your form counts. It affects muscle pulls and your speed. It makes every movement more efficient. That leads to more endurance and speed. Allow your arms to swing freely as you keep your shoulders relaxed. Your stride, the strike position of your feet, your cadence, and a wealth of other form tips, from the placement of the feet to how to keep your head held correctly, all play a vital role in form. Many changes you make to your running form also improve your overall posture.

Practice, practice, practice.

Run more often. You won’t run your best if you only run once a week. Use running as a substitute for one or two gym days, spending three days at the gym and three days running. If you can’t run outside, run on the treadmill in the gym instead. Counting your strides by identifying how many steps you take in a minute can also help. It’s called stride turnover. Stride length also plays a role in your speed. While some people focus on improving those factors, many experts believe that your body will find the most efficient combination the more you run.

Breathing techniques can increase endurance.

Breathing in through the nostrils and out through the mouth is the first breathing technique to learn. Don’t try to learn it as you run. Start before you take to the asphalt. Add belly breathing for deeper breaths. Make breaths deeper and blow all the breath out as deeply as possible. Combining those two will help you maintain speed longer.

Take a tempo run once a week.

Tempo runs can increase your anaerobic threshold—how long it takes and how much exertion before the body switches from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism. You can do it by running at a comfortable, easier pace for 10 minutes and switching to 20 minutes at a pace sustainable for 6 miles. Finish the last ten minutes at a cool-down rate. Your pace should be fast enough that you can’t carry on a conversation, but slow enough your body isn’t begging for air.

Make your run a modified HIIT—high intensity interval training—workout. Warm up first, then do a lap at a 5 K pace. Do the next lap at a recovery or jogging pace. Alternate speeds between fast and recovery up to six times.
Run on hilly terrain. It can be on asphalt or concrete as long as there is an incline. Run up the hills as fast as possible. Jog down the other side. Do as many hills as you can with maximum benefits from 10 hills.
Get good shoes. While your other clothing should be layered and appropriate for the weather, it doesn’t have to be fancy. Your shoes are a different matter. Use the correct shoes for the terrain you run, whether it’s a treadmill, gravel, or woodsy terrain.
While you won’t run faster, you will run safer by letting people know where you run. Carry a phone with you and allow a friend or family member to track you. If running at night, wear reflective clothing.

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

Posted in Fitness & Wellness