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Did you start your workout yet?  Have you changed your diet? Do you feel that its hard to  live an active lifestyle after being sedentary for so long? Do you feel that you will never get eating healthy down packed? Do you feel like your goal was too far fetched? The one thing I know about training and counsling is ATTITUDE is one of the most important weapons you can have in your aresenal. I often used to ask myself, why is giving up so easy? Why is it so easy to give in? Why is it easier to do negative than positive? When I am confronted with unmotivated people, I keep the answer to these questions in mind. One of the first things I tell new Fitness Freaks is that once you decide to make a positive change in your life, EVERY reason possible will rear its ugly head to deter you from your goal. How do you overcome this?

at·ti·tude: noun
ˈatiˌt(y)o͞od/

a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior.

Every negative situation, every negative person, every negative thought should be met with the ATTITUDE that reflects your deepest desire. You started on this journey because you wanted to change. Your life, up until this point has accommidated what you no longer desire. So what do you think is going to happen once you decide to change? Opposition.  And what do we fight opposition with?……. ATTITUDE! I won’t give up! I won’t give in!  I won’t quite! I do still want this! This is tough but I am tougher! I won’t look for the excuse, but the solution! I won’t look for the way around, but the way through! We ALL started with a day1, and don’t think every day after that has been consecutive. There has been bumps in the road and side tracks, and but progress has always been the goal. God didn’t make any of us perfect, therefore our journey won’t be perfect.  Keep this in mind when you feel like this healthy life wasn’t meant for you. Remind yourself over and over that…………..

~its about what YOU see in the mirror~

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Getting fit is more than just the activity you perform. Your recovery time is just as important.

I don’t have to tell you to get your butt in gear…..well some of you I do. What I might also have to tell you that spending hours lifting, running, and jumping day-in-and-day-out will stall your progress. Rest and recovery are essential components to any strength and conditioning program and most coaches and trainers would argue it’s just as or more important than the lifting itself. Recovery must occur before progress can be made. It’s important for staying injury free, long-term consistent training, and maxing out from time to time.

Here are some recovery tips I’ve gathered from varios sources to help you.

Rest– Getting plenty of sleep and resting your body may be the most effective treatment. 8 to 10 hrs of sleep a night is ideal. You actually burn calories in your sleep while your muscles recover from resistance training.  

Hydration – Drinking plenty of water can help flush out toxins from your body and prevent dehydration, which can make muscle soreness even more painful. While there is no consensus on how much water you should drink, somewhere around 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water per day is a good starting point.

Blood flow: Circulation of blood in and out of a stressed body part improves speed of recovery. Techniques that can improve blood flow include cooling down after your workout with a walk or easy bike ride, performing light stretching during or after each workout, alternating every 30-60 seconds between hot and cold running water in your post-workout shower, taking an ice bath after a very strenuous weight training workout or long run, and performing a light walk, swim, or easy exercise routine the day after a hard workout.

Pre & Post-Workout Nutrition – My formula for this is to consume a healthy carb (usually 1 cup of raw almonds,walnuts, and dried fruit) and water pre-workout, and a healthy carb (piece of fruit) and protein (1 boiled egg) post-workout.

Topical Creams – creams like Ben Gay and IcyHot provide the perception of pain relief, but have no effects on the underlying muscle.

NSAIDS – nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil and Alleve can help relieve the discomfort of muscle soreness. It’s not advisable to use NSAIDS on a consistent basis, but rather for an acute bout of soreness.

Stretch! Stretch! Stretch!– it is very important to legnthen the muscles for good range of motion. Most cases of muscle pulls are because the muscle hasno elasticity. You see this alot with body builders. Their biceps are so tight that the can’t straighten their arms. Tight muscles are one of the main causes of pulled hamstrings.

The top 3 inhibitors to making progress in your training are….

1) Lack of sleep

2) Lack of proper nutrition

3) Overtraining

The best way to avoid very sore muscles and improve recovery is to use a progressive exercise program where workouts become harder at a measured pace over time. Remember not to try to accomplish all your goals in one day. Pace yourself. It took you this long to get to wherever you are now. Give yourself time train and time to recover.

~its about what YOU see in the mirror~

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http://www.mensfitness.com/

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/

You don’t have to be in the gym to get a great workout. Try these fun activities to reach your goal.

Model mit Kettlebell

Kettlebells


One of the most effective fitness tools Iv’e found, kettlebells will boost your cardio, sculpt your body and improve your strength with every move. Kettlebells come in a wide range of weights, giving you the ability to start easy and work your way up as your fitness soars. My suggestion is to get the Empower Fitness 3-in-1 Kettlebell, which gives you five-, eight-, and 12-pound options. It also comes with Gin Miller’s Swing Yourself Fit DVD, which features three different workouts that will change your body. Kettlebells will not only tone you from head-to-toe, they are also a fun way to bust fitness boredom.

skating

Rollerskating

 

Remember the good back in the day when all your friends had their birthday parties at the skating rink, and you spent hours racing around the floor? Recapture the fun by grabbing a pair of quads or inline skates and hitting the pavement. You’ll love the feel of the wind in your hair, and you’ll be psyched to know that the average 150-pound woman burns roughly 450 calories during an hour of skating.

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Trampolining

 

Trampoline gyms like Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park are popping up all across the country. That’s because jumping on a trampoline is excellent exercise — and it’s just plain fun.

If you don’t have a trampoline gym in your area, create your own jumping workout using a home trampoline. Representatives from Springfree Trampoline suggest performing a total-body strengthening workout incorporating straight jumps, seat drops, pike jumps, hands-and-knees drops and jumping jacks. A 20-minute routine will leave you feeling both exhilarated and worn out

trx training

Suspension training

Suspension training using a TRX or Jungle Gym XT trainer can help you gain excellent full-body balance and strength wherever you are. These easily transportable devices engage large and small muscle groups while you perform pushups, squats, lunges and other body-weight exercises.

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Outdoor cycling and Alternatives

 

Indoor spinning classes can be fun, but nothing beats the thrill of a real ride. Pick up a bike and hit the roads and trails for a consistently fun challenge. Constant changes in terrain will also offer a challenge. You can make it up that hill!!!

If you shy away from cycling because you can’t stand the butt burn, check out a few of the new outdoor cycling alternatives such as the Trikkeand the ElliptiGO. The Trikke engages your legs and core as you power the three-wheeled standing cycle around town, while the Elliptigo functions as an outdoor elliptical machine, allowing you to run on wheels!

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Dancing

 

Dancing is a great way to exercise while having a blast, and the best part is that you can do it anywhere there’s music. Simply turn up your stereo and create your own routine to your favorite playlist. Zumba is a great group activity that is sure to burn 100s of calories. Cut up a shirt and show’em what you workin with!

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Pole Dance

Pole dancing fitness can contribute to significant weight loss for individuals when combined with other fat burning exercises. In one single class you can burn as many as 250 calories which is the equivalent to a good gym session, says Weightlossresources.co.uk.  Pole dancing will also build and tone muscles, increase flexibility, and boost confidence.

 

I don’t recommend skipping resistance training as building muscle will accelerate your fat loss and increase strength. Whatever you choose to add to your program, pick an activity that you enjoy. You want something to look forward to when exercising. This will keep you coming back even if you don’t feel particularly motivated that day. Tomorrow a client and I are slipping on the boxing gloves. I hope she’s ready!

~its about what YOU see in the mirror~

 

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http://www.sheknows.com/

http://www.medicaldaily.com/

Diabetic patient doing glucose level blood test

Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood glucose, commonly called blood sugar. Glucose is vital to your health because it’s an important source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and tissues. It’s also your brain’s main source of fuel.

If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose (sugar) in your blood, although the reasons may differ. Too much glucose can lead to serious health problems.

Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes (born with) and type 2 diabetes (poorn diet and activity level). Potentially reversible diabetes conditions include prediabetes — when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes — and gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy but may resolve after the baby is delivered.

Type 1 diabetes is a serious condition that occurs when the pancreas makes little or no insulin. Without insulin, the body is unable to take the glucose (blood sugar) it gets from food into cells to fuel the body

Type 2 diabetes usually occurs slowly over time. When the body is exposed to large ammounts of glocose (sugar), your body’s cells start to become resistant to insulin (know as receptor downregulation). The cells can’t absorb the glucose for energy, so it stays in the blood (high blood sugar)  Most people with the disease are overweight when they are diagnosed. Increased fat makes it harder for your body to use insulin the correct way.

Type 2 diabetes can also develop in people who are thin. This is more common in the elderly.

Family history and genes play a role in type 2 diabetes. Low activity level, poor diet, and excess body weight around the waist increase your chance of getting the disease.

Let’s talk more about type 2 diabetes. Why? Because it’s the most controllable. What we eat is just as important as how much we eat. Take wheat, corn, and white starches like potatoes and rice for instance. These foods are converted into sugar. So much in fact that if you have diabetes, the first thin that’s recommended to cut out is wheat. It can spike your blood sugar higher than a candybar. For this reason I recommend cutting back drastically on these food items. They should not be part of your normal diet. Too often these food “have” to be eaten with a certain meal. Shrimp, veggies, rice. Steak, bread, potatoes….Why? Who said? Certainly your body isn’t agreeing with this idea. Let’s break these habits. Let’s take responsibility for our health. Just because the dinner you order comes with these items, does not mean you have to consume them. Remember what is important…….

~its about what YOU see in the mirror~

http://www.mayoclinic.org/

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People I give advice to about what to cut out  their diet sometimes give me excuses. The ones I hear the most when they’re resisting change are, “you never had to worry about weight your weight”, “its easy for you to cut things out of your diet”, “you don’t understand being addicted to sweets”. Well I’m here to tell you they are right. I never had to worry about my weight beacause I’ve always been active. It is true that for me its easy to cut things out of my diet, because I see the changes in my body and health from those decisions.  I have always been in somewhat pretty good shape, but I wasn’t always a healthy eater. Let me give you my menu when I was 25 yrs old.

Breakfast: Waffle w/ butter & syrup, 2 eggs, glass of orange juice (every morning til my waffle iron burned out……months)

9:00am: Turkey sandwich..4 pieces of meat, with lettuce, tomates(salt &pepper), pickles, cheese, a piece of fruit, water

12:00pm: same as 9am

3pm or so a candy bar on the way home from work. Usually a snickers

Dinner: Hamburger Helper usually 2 helpings with some kind of canned veggie, and whatever to drink (no thought really put into it)

Hope this  doesn’t sound like your typical day…LOL. I don’t want to know the amount of carbs and sodium in this meal. I’m just glad I finally made changes. I don’t presume to have all the answers but this is how I approached the task at hand. I started one meal at a time, breakfast first. Let’s look at the changes I made. I went to one egg. Then I cut the waffle, well I was kind of forced to cut that when my iron crapped out on me, so I went to oatmeal. , then water instead of juice.

My oatmeal: 2cups of rolled oats, 2cups of vanilla almond milk, dried fruit, 1 whole banana, 1Tbs brown sugar, 1tsp of vanilla extract

Basically a big bowl or sugar……carbs turn to sugar so the oats are sugar, the sugary milk, and sugar in the fruit, and straight sugar in the form of brown sugar

1st I cut the brown sugar, then the dried fruit, then the almond milk

It became so nasty that I couldn’t stand to eat it anymore. This is when I realized that in order for oatmeal to taste good you have to add large amounts of sugar to it. So I cut the oatmeal all together, and started eating 1 egg and 1 piece of fruit. This is where I am today. That was just breakfast. The same changes were made to lunch, snaks, and dinner.

These slight changes were made over the span of 13 years, and hours of research on nutrition. So when someone asks me what should they eat, and I answer their question, I understand why they think its overwhelming. I’m giving them the destination. Its up to them as to how they get there. They can approach the goal as slow or fast as they want. My only warning is your body and the damage being done isn’t waiting on you to make changes.  So look at what you can tolerate being gone from your diet. Educate yourself and use the knowlege you’ve learned. Don’t make excuses and looking for the easy way out. You can do this.

~its about what YOU see in the mirror~

 

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Massage

 

With all this talk of exercise and eating healthy. Let’s talk about newbies’ number one complaint when exercising, getting sore. Yes its uncomfotable, and sometimes painful but it doesn’t last forever. Let’s look at what’s happening in the body and what we can do to alliviate the discomfort.

The correct term is “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness” (DOMS).  Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is understood to be caused by microfractures in the muscle cells themselves. This happens when you do some activity that your muscles aren’t used to doing or do it in a much more strenuous way than they are used to.

This is also why after you exercise some specific way a few times and allow your muscles to recover, that you won’t typically get sore again from doing that activity at a similar intensity level, so long as you continue to do it on a somewhat regular bases.  The muscles quickly adapt to being able to handle new activities so as to avoid further damage in the future; this is known as the “repeated-bout effect”.  When this happens, the microfractures typically won’t develop unless you change your activity in some substantial way.  As a general rule, as long as the change to the exercise is under 10% of what you normally do, you won’t experience DOMS as a result of the activity.

~its about what YOU see in the mirror~

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http://www.todayifoundout.com/