Fitness & Wellness

Push Past Your Comfort Zone

Push Past Your Comfort Zone

Published by on April 6, 2016 | Leave a response

Push Past Your Comfort Zone

I hear so many people who come in and tell me they just aren’t seeing results. The main reason I find is that they’ve been doing the same exercise routine for years and never upped the ante or made it harder. You have to push past your comfort zone in order to get the maximum results from your fitness program. If you’re spending the time working out, make sure it’s worthwhile. That’s one reason people benefit from using the services of a personal trainer.

Personal trainers always keep you working out toward your maximum potential.

Before you start with me, I assess your overall fitness and create a program designed especially for you. It will be tough at first, but as you get stronger and fitter, you’ll be able to accomplish all goals. That’s when I really help you by adjusting your workout to your new fitness level. You’ll always be working hard, but that way, you’ll always be making progress. If you’re presently working on your own, ask yourself, “When was the last time I made my workout more difficult?” You probably won’t be able to remember.

Find ways to get extra exercise.

Making anything more physically difficult isn’t our natural inclination. That’s why we often take the car when we only have to go a few blocks or take the elevator. Now is the time to stretch your anticipation. Next time you go to a neighbors or to a nearby store, walk there briskly or run. Take the stairs and not the elevator. If you have an opportunity to choose between a sedentary way of doing something and a more physical one, take the physical route. It’s often these small steps that add to your overall fitness.

Learn the right way to do each exercise.

When you’re pushing yourself to the limit, it can be easy to use the wrong form, but that can minimize the benefits and may even be dangerous. If you’re trying to build a specific group of muscles that are not strong enough YET, you may use smaller muscle groups to help you get through the exercise. Those muscles weren’t intended to work that hard, which can cause injury. When you’re pushing yourself, make sure you not only watch the instructor, but also have someone watch you when you do it, to insure you’re doing it correctly.

While you’re pushing past your comfort zone in exercise, do the same when it comes to eating. Try new dishes that are healthier alternative. The worst that can happen is you’ll say, “I’ll never eat that again.”

Build your workout program gradually, but continuously. Add a few extra minutes, reps or sets every week or so.

Get the help of a personal trainer. You don’t have to use the trainer’s services every day or every week, but just enough so he or she can help you raise the bar on your exercise program.

Aim high! Too many people underestimate themselves. Never give up. Aim high and keep going until you reach that goal.

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Fitness Is Mind AND Body

Fitness Is Mind AND Body

Published by on March 30, 2016 | Leave a response

Fitness is Mind and Body

Fitness is mind and body working together to help you have the healthiest life possible. Not only does working out help you think clearer and feel better, thinking positive also helps you be healthier and achieve more. The mind and the body are not separate entities, but work together to create the beautiful person that is you. Focusing on the positive isn’t the same as living in denial. Instead it’s giving attention to the steps of progress you make while standing firm in your resolve to achieve a goal. In this case, a fitness goal.

The body affects the mind in many ways.

When you’re under stress, your body creates hormones that prepare you to fight or for flight. That was an excellent attribute when stress was the potential of being eaten by a saber tooth tiger or trampled by a herd of charging bison. Today, stress comes in a wide variety of forms and running or fighting isn’t appropriate for most of them. If those hormones aren’t burned off, you’ll be angry, paranoid, depressed or a have a number of other negative reactions. They also make changes in the body that can lead to illness. Burning off those hormones with exercise not helps you feel better, but the body also creates hormones that give you a feeling of well being, such as endorphin and dopamine, when you exercise.

Working out builds your self esteem.

Studies show that even before any visible signs of improvement show, people have improved self esteem when they start a program of regular exercise. Exercise also helps your posture. You’ll walk taller and amazingly, feel better about yourself when you do. Not only that, your posture gives you presence so others notice it too. You’ll see just how much exercise can help your overall self esteem.

When you believe you can, nothing can stop you.

The power of belief is dramatic. No matter what your present fitness level, YOU CAN CHANGE IT FOR THE BETTER if you believe you can. Some people call it mental toughness, which is the ability to continue long after others might have quit. Others just call it determination, but in reality, it all boils down to believing not only in yourself, but in your fitness program.

If you keep a mental image of what you want to look like or how fit you want to be, it will come true. When you don’t want to exercise, focus on it. When that slice of cake looks overwhelmingly delightful, focus on it.

You’ll sleep better at night when you workout regularly. That alone can help you have more resolve and feel better about yourself and everyone around you.

You’ll feel happier when you workout and think clearer. Not only does exercise stimulate the circulation of blood, it helps build more connections in the brain to improve cognitive thinking.

Exercising regularly can help prevent serious conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and even Alzheimer’s. It also can help you lift depression and prevent osteoporosis.

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Find Your Healthy Lifestyle

Find Your Healthy Lifestyle

Published by on March 9, 2016 | Leave a response

Find Your Healthy Lifestyle

Everyone has a different suggestion on how to get fit, but you have to find your healthy lifestyle. Each person is a unique individual, that has different likes, needs and special situations. While a single girl that works may have to go before or after work to exercise and be able to buy special foods to help her lose weight. A person with a family that is everything from butler to cook to chauffeur, who may or may not work outside the home, has a special problem finding time to get fit and needs a different approach.

Learn to eat healthier.

Knowledge is power. Rather than dieting, learning to make smarter choices when it comes to food fits everyone’s special circumstance. You don’t have to eat any one type of food, but have a wide selection from which to choose. The key is knowing how to make substitutions or how to pick the most nutritious food that’s lowest in calories. You may have to learn how to cook a little differently, such as steaming, baking or grilling food rather than frying, but you’ll find you have a wide choice of foods from which to select. You’ll even learn to eat healthier when you eat out….even at fast food restaurants.

Find a fitness program that works with your hours.

Not everyone can be at the gym at a certain time. That’s why you may need to have a flexible training program or a personal trainer that works around your hours. Many times trainers will help you develop a fitness program and work with you one day a week or even every two weeks, while you work on your own the rest of the time. That allows for greater flexibility. Often busy people find that once they start working out, love the feeling of relaxation it provides afterward and even rearrange their schedule to include a regular class.

How much sleep do you need?

Everyone is different, but everyone definitely needs between 7 and 8 hours of sleep, according to the latest studies. You’ll be helping your health and making it easier to lose weight if you can get that much sleep, but like most busy people, it may be impossible. Find ways to take catnaps throughout the day or learn a form of meditation to provide a few minutes of rest throughout the day.

Drink plenty of fluids. There’s no doubt about it, no matter who you are, water is important. While some people need more water than others, everyone should have at least eight glasses a day.

Make yourself a priority. Often you’re so busy taking care of others, you fail to take care of yourself. Remember, if you get sick, who’s going to take care of them?

Think positive thoughts. This one is hard, particularly if everything seems to be going downhill, but work on it while you’re exercising and you’ll find your day going smoother.

Don’t worry about whether you are as fit as the other people in your workout class or gym. Each person should be working toward his or her own potential and if you make strides toward them, then you’re a success.

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Hectic Can Still Be Healthy

Hectic Can Still Be Healthy

Published by on February 24, 2016 | Leave a response

Hectic can still be healthy, particularly when you plan ahead and include healthy habits in your schedule. Even though a hectic lifestyle can be stressful, it doesn’t mean you have to live with that stress. You can eliminate the hormones created by stress with a regular workout. Exercising on a regular basis burns off hormones created by stress that can cause illness and that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Plan your food ahead and maximize the benefits.

Take a few minutes on the weekend to plan meals and do shopping. Planning healthy snacks is extremely important. Not only will you save time during the week, you’ll be able to eat healthier, too. Most people think they need to eliminate snacks to be their healthiest but that’s simply not true. Fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy snacks not only boost your energy mid morning, mid day and in the evening, they also can provide plenty of nutrition and you steer clear from eating junk food.

Use your hectic lifestyle to your advantage.

Stop circling the parking lot for a closer spot. It’s often quicker to park at the first spot you find and walk a few extra feet. You’ll save gas and get more exercise, particularly if you move briskly. Quicken your pace when doing household chores, you’ll not only get finished faster, you’ll raise your heart rate and get some cardio workout as a benefit.

Combine time with the kids with exercise.

Most parents play with their children and spend quality time with them, but have you considered combining exercise with child time. You won’t be doing the same old routine but joining them in play. Red Rover, relay races and bike rides are all great exercises you can enjoy with your children. As your child gets older, shooting hoops and playing ball are also great. Active play not only benefits your health, it teaches your child lifelong habits that will improve his or her health.

You’ll stay healthier, so you you’ll spend less time at the doctor’s and less time in bed. Exercising regularly helps you stay healthier so you can get everything accomplished that you need to do.

You’ll have more energy and get things done faster, giving you more free time.

Spend a date night with your spouse doing something active. You’ll both benefit from the extra exercise and have some quality time together.

When you workout, you have a better quality of sleep and that can boost your energy level to higher levels. You’ll be amazed at how feeling good will change even the most hectic lifestyle to the most productive.

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Eat Drink And Sweat

Eat Drink And Sweat

Published by on February 5, 2016 | Leave a response

Eat Drink and Sweat

Eat, drink and sweat your way to your ultimate fitness goal. It’s a great deal of fun when you think of it as a game you can win. All it takes is the right mindset, determination and knowing the right moves. You can conquer the extra pounds and come out a winner, who also feels and looks fantastic. You’ll feel years younger, but also know you’re doing something great for your health.

Don’t diet but learn to eat healthier.

Diets don’t work. We both know that. They always end, sometimes late at night in front of the refrigerator and sometimes after you lost the weight you wanted to lose. You might think that losing the weight means the diet worked, but ultimately you go back to old eating habits and regain the weight. Even worse, sometimes you regain the weight and more extra pounds. Instead of dieting, learning a new way to eat will not only help you take off pounds, but also keep them from returning.

Eating healthier doesn’t mean giving up everything you love.

Eating healthier means making some changes or substitutions. Some may seem small and insignificant, such as eating wild or brown rice instead of white rice. However, not only do you get more nutrients, it’s also lower in calories. When you add all those small changes together you’ll be eliminating a lot of calories from your daily intake. Other changes might mean eating more frequently, but making those meals healthy. You’ll also have to be prepared to eat healthy snacks to keep hunger at bay between meals. You’ll learn to cook differently too, eating foods steamed, broiled, baked or boiled rather than fried. If you have a favorite food, you can eat it sparingly or learn to make it healthier and lower in calories and be able to eat it more frequently.

Working out and working up a sweat is another way to shave pounds off quickly.

Eating healthy lowers your caloric intake, while exercising increases your caloric output. When you combine the two, you have a dynamite combination that literally blasts pounds off your body. Not only does exercising regularly help you lose weight by increasing the calories you burn, it also builds muscle tissue. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does, so you’ll be boosting your metabolism and burning extra calories 24/7.

Drinking plenty of water while you’re trying to lose weight not only replenishes your fluids after you exercise, it also flushes out the toxins in your system and helps you feel fuller so you’ll eat less.

Don’t forget one more important aspect, sleep. Staying healthy and looking your best requires adequate sleep. When you lack sleep, you’re far more tempted to eat something sugary for energy and that can destroy a weight loss program.

You don’t have to have a goal of weight loss to benefit from eating healthy, exercising and drinking plenty of water. It helps everyone look and feel years younger.

You’ll love how great you feel and how much energy you’ll have after you start a healthy eat, drink and sweat program. You’ll want to share it with friends and will be doing them a favor if you do.

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Are You Overweight Because Of A Hormone Imbalance?

Published by on January 1, 1970 | Leave a response

I have had clients at RC Fitness in Houston, TX, who put on weight easily and are overweight. They find it hard to take off those extra pounds. It’s not that they eat more than others. It’s that they have a hormone imbalance, which makes it harder. If you feel like you’re trying your hardest to shed those extra pounds, but your body is fighting harder to keep them, that may be the case. You can control many of the factors when you know what to do. Hormonal imbalances make it especially hard for women going through menopause, when hormone levels are regularly changing. There are ways to identify the problem and control it.

When hormone levels drop, each level diminishes different.

One sign of estrogen dominance is weight gain. You’d think that at menopause, with consistently lower levels of estrogen, you’d find it easier to lose weight. That doesn’t happen because at the same time, progesterone levels are also dropping and you need the fine balance of the two to maintain normal weight and burn calories. When progesterone levels drop faster than estrogen, it creates an estrogen dominance and weight gain.

Other hormones play a role in weight loss.

Besides estrogen and progesterone, you have a number of other hormones that determine your weight. Insulin ensures your body uses the energy properly. High levels lead to insulin resistance and weight gain on your belly. Too much cortisol, the hormone of stress, is burned off when you run or fight. You can burn them off by mimicking those actions with exercise. Hormones that control hunger levels, leptin and ghrelin, tell you when you’re full or hungry. Too much leptin, the satiety hormone, develops leptin resistance and your body doesn’t get that message of being full. Too much ghrelin keeps you hungry all the time.

You don’t have to take medication to level hormones

Adequate sleep can help you keep your ghrelin and leptin balanced. You can reduce the amount of cortisol and stress hormones by simply exercising regularly. It mimics fighting or running that they are meant to help you do. Exercise also helps you modify the imbalance of estrogen and progesterone. It helps lower insulin levels and prevents insulin resistance. Eating healthy is another way of helping your hormone levels stay in balance and keeping you in a normalized state.

Walking is a great way to start if you are completely out of shape. As you get fitter, you’ll be able to workout harder and see even faster results.

Sometimes, your body needs additional nutrition. When you don’t get adequate sun, you may have vitamin D shortage, particularly if you use sunblock. Magnesium and vitamin B are also important in maintain a good hormonal balance.

Too much caffeine and red meat might be causing the problem you face with your weight. Don’t forget to include healthy fat in your diet and make sure you focus heavily on whole foods, like vegetables and fruit.

Your gut health plays an important role in regulating your hormones. Probiotic food like yogurt, sauerkraut and kefir contain healthy bacteria that can help you lose weight. Food high in soluble fiber, such as asparagus, onions and bananas are food for that bacteria and called prebiotics.

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