Fitness & Wellness

Are Carbs Bad For Your Health?

Are Carbs Bad For Your Health?

Published by on November 5, 2023 | Leave a response

There is a lot of buzz in Louisville, KY, about giving up carbs to lose weight and be healthier. The truth is that carbs are necessary for your health. They provide many nutrients and help fuel the body. It’s not about whether you should eat carbs, but the type of carbs you should eat. Just like fire, some carbs help the body and some destroy it. Beneficial carbohydrates play a vital role in overall health. They’re the source of fiber your body requires. It’s one of the categories of carbohydrates, with the others being sugar and starch.

Good carbs take longer to enter the bloodstream.

One group of carbs, simple sugars, enter the bloodstream with a rush. They spike blood sugar levels, which triggers the release of insulin that immediately drops blood sugar to levels that are often too low. That can start a chain reaction that triggers insulin resistance, weight gain, and serious health issues. Another type of carb, fiber, can slow the rise of glucose. Limiting food with simple sugar, like highly processed food, sweets, food with added sugar, or white rice and white bread, can make you healthier.

Carbohydrates include vegetables and fruit.

Fruits and vegetables are good carbohydrates. They contain fiber, vitamins, phytonutrients, and minerals. The fiber not only slows the entrance of glucose into the bloodstream, but it also feeds the beneficial bacteria in the gut and fills you up so you don’t eat as much. For your digestive tract to work properly, you need fiber. Whole grains, legumes, fruit, and vegetables fit that description. Many are lower in calories, but higher in nutrition.

It’s all about choosing the right type of carbohydrates.

Carbs provide quick energy, but to be your healthiest, be selective. If it’s in its natural form with no additives and little processing, it’s likely a healthy carb. Fresh vegetables are good carbs, while fruit in a thick sugary syrup doesn’t fit that description. Minimally processed fruits and vegetables, like those frozen or canned, can be healthy. Whole grains are healthy, while their highly processed counterparts aren’t. It’s all about the added extras and the nutrition removed.

  • The risk of serious conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease increase when you consume sugar and unhealthy carbs. Many obese individuals are also malnourished.
  • Keeping your gut microbiome healthy is vital. The microbes in your gut affect all parts of the body, including your brain. They also affect your mood. Fiber, a type of carb, helps increase the population of beneficial microbes.
  • Instead of quitting all carbs, just quit carbs with added sugar. It will be hard at first, but you’ll notice your sense of taste improving the longer you do it. Eventually, besides getting healthier, you’ll appreciate how sweet fruit is.
  • The body needs all three macronutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Eat a healthy diet that consists primarily of whole food.

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

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Natural Remedies For Sleeping Better

Natural Remedies For Sleeping Better

Published by on October 25, 2023 | Leave a response

If you listen to pharmaceutical commercials, you probably think there’s a pill for everything. At the end of every commercial, the announcer speaks rapidly in a soft, unemotional voice about all the side effects of the drug, many of which are far worse than the ailment it’s supposed to cure. Many people in Louisville, KY, look for natural remedies to help them sleep that don’t require disclosures. Lack of quality sleep causes many physical issues, yet millions of Americans suffer from it. Many people may be in bed for 8 hours but still don’t go through all stages of sleep to be healthy.

Should you eat before bedtime or not eat?

Almost everyone has heard you shouldn’t eat before bed, but that isn’t always true. The type of food you eat and the amount you eat is the key. Don’t overload your stomach with fatty foods, food high in sugar, or junk. It can cause digestive issues if you do or if you eat too much. However, if you can’t sleep, the problem may be hunger. Man is hardwired to stay awake and hunt for food if he’s hungry for survival. If you can’t fall asleep, try eating a small amount of protein with tryptophan, like beef, poultry, or seafood, combined with a healthy carb.

Get plenty of exercise.

A consistent program of exercise can help you sleep better. It doesn’t matter what type of exercise, walking, running, calisthenics, or just dancing. If you have a chronic problem with sleep, getting 30 minutes of exercise daily can help. Don’t overdo it, especially at first. It can cause aching muscles that will keep you awake all night. Not only will exercising regularly help you fall asleep, but it will also improve your quality of sleep, too.

Avoid alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine before bedtime.

People drink coffee to stay awake, so it seems like a no-brainer. However, most people don’t consider the caffeine in colas, chocolate, and energy drinks. Drinking or consuming caffeine-containing substances late in the day can keep you awake. Alcohol may help relax you, but if you drink it before bed, you won’t get the quality of sleep. You’ll wake up throughout the night or miss several stages of quality sleep.

  • Get out in the sun and eat food higher in omega-3. Both vitamin D and omega-3 are necessary to produce serotonin which plays a vital role in how quickly you fall asleep and the quality of your sleep.
  • Eating almonds or almond butter on toast can also help. Almonds contain magnesium that can calm your mind and help you sleep. A magnesium deficiency can cause insomnia.
  • Make sure you turn off all electrical appliances that emit light, such as the computer or TV. Sleep in a dark room that’s a bit on the cool side. You may think the TV helps you fall asleep, but it interferes with the quality of sleep.
  • Make a sleep schedule and stick with it, even on the weekends. Falling asleep at a specific time becomes a habit and helps you go to sleep quickly.

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

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How To Lose Body Fat And Preserve Muscle Mass

How To Lose Body Fat And Preserve Muscle Mass

Published by on October 15, 2023 | Leave a response

It’s possible to lose body fat and preserve muscle mass. To lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than you burn. The body doesn’t differentiate where it gets those calories, whether it’s from burning fat or muscle for them. Bodybuilders tend to focus most on this since getting ripped requires reducing fat, allowing muscles to show. To achieve body recomposition, reducing body fat and maintaining or increasing muscle tissue, focus on the best diet and exercise program.

It starts with your diet.

There’s a reason we include nutrition in our fitness programs, especially when you want to focus on losing fat and not muscle. Reducing your caloric intake too much can result in losing muscle mass. While many weight loss diets reduce calories by more than 500 a day, it can cause a loss of muscle mass. Rather than lowering calories, increasing activity levels is the way bodybuilders achieve that goal. They maintain the calorie intake for their weight and exercise more, increasing intensity and activity.

Some exercises are better for body recomposition.

Maintaining your caloric intake while boosting your exercise regimen is the key if you just want to burn fat and build or maintain muscle tissue. If you have a particularly intense workout, like intense strength training or HIIT—high intensity interval training—-you can even minimally increase your caloric intake to provide the energy you need. On days away from the gym or doing moderate to mild exercise, you can cut your calories by a small amount, such as 200 to 300.

Full-body workouts, interval training, and HIIT workouts are a few options.

A personal trainer can develop the perfect plan to help you, but if you don’t have a trainer, aim for full-body workouts, such as kettlebells that burn the most calories. Constant aerobic workouts won’t give you the results you want. They burn both fat and muscle. Strength-building workouts build or maintain muscle tissue and burn mostly body fat. Make your workouts shorter but work at a more intense pace, taking fewer breaks between sets or exercises. When you’re doing strength training, increase the weight you lift. You can also set a time and focus on increasing the number of lifts you do in the allotted time.

  • Increasing protein intake can help protect your muscles is important. Protein is necessary for building muscle tissue and can help burn fat. Cutting out processed food and food with added sugar is also necessary.
  • If weight loss and maintaining muscle mass is your goal, you have to adjust your diet slightly. Maintaining the same or slightly lower calorie intake on your days working out and cutting it by 300-400 calories on your days off works well.
  • Never underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep. Getting adequate sleep can boost your energy so you burn more calories. It also keeps your appetite in check.
  • Drink more water and stay hydrated. Water makes you feel full, so you don’t overeat. It also boosts your energy level. Don’t forget to include protein and carbs after working out. It helps with recovery by providing the necessary raw materials.

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

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How Many Calories Are Burned During Each Workout?

How Many Calories Are Burned During Each Workout?

Published by on October 5, 2023 | Leave a response

Predicting the number of calories burned during a workout isn’t easy. Each person is different. The calories they burn doing the same exercises as someone else will vary by age, weight, gender, percentage of muscle tissue, length and intensity of the workout, and other factors. Even though you may be doing the same workout, the calories you burn at each will also vary. You can approximate the calories you burn, which for most people is adequate.

Your weight, gender, age, and body composition make a difference.

If you weigh more, moving around takes more energy, and you’ll burn more calories. Gender and body composition are linked. Men tend to have more muscle mass than women. People with more muscle mass burn more calories working out. The older you get, the harder it is to reach the intensity required to burn the maximum calories. You might think that fit people will burn more calories, but that’s not necessarily true. Their body is more efficient, so they burn fewer calories.

The area temperature, the amount of sleep, and your intensity affect the calories burned.

It makes sense that someone running at peak speed will burn more calories than someone walking slower, so intensity counts. If the room is warm, your body temperature will be higher, burning more calories. Getting adequate sleep the night before makes a difference. It can cause fatigue so you won’t work as hard. It also slows your metabolism.

Sometimes, just estimating the number of calories is enough.

Many charts will show the number of calories burned. Some even add weight to the mix. For instance, a 125-pound person will burn 165 calories doing 30 minutes of low-impact aerobic exercise, while a 155-pound person will burn 108. High-impact exercises burn more. That same 125-pound person will burn 210 calories, while the 155-pound person will burn 252. Knowing approximately how many calories you’ll burn based on the activity is often enough. Staying more focused on consistency and being active is more important.

  • While lifting weights doesn’t necessarily burn the most calories, they do create afterburn that increases your metabolism for hours. They also build muscle tissue that boosts metabolism.
  • Eating a small snack before you exercise can help keep you working your hardest, burning more calories in the process. The snack should contain a carb and some protein.
  • HIIT—high intensity interval training—torches calories. It’s not a type of exercise but a way of modifying any workout, alternating between peak intensity and a recovery pace.
  • A personal trainer will create a program designed to help you maximize the calories you burn, while also focusing on all types of fitness, strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility.

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

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The Importance Of Stretching

The Importance Of Stretching

Published by on September 25, 2023 | Leave a response

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

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How To Get Started With Strength Training

How To Get Started With Strength Training

Published by on September 15, 2023 | Leave a response

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

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Why It Is Important To Have A Regular Exercising Schedule?

Why It Is Important To Have A Regular Exercising Schedule?

Published by on September 5, 2023 | Leave a response

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

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Nutrition Tips For Seniors

Nutrition Tips For Seniors

Published by on August 25, 2023 | Leave a response

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

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Exercises To Improve Posture

Exercises To Improve Posture

Published by on August 15, 2023 | Leave a response

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

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