Tip Of The Day Archives:
- Muscles stretch better when they are warm. As muscles warm up they become more pliable and more responsive to stretching exercises. Good times to stretch include: after exercise, after a hot shower or bath, in a hot tub or after gardening outside on a warm day.
- Take a deep breath in and exhale as you move into your stretch. Keep breathing deeply while you stretch. Hold your stretches for 30 seconds to one minute.
- If one side of your body is consistantly tighter than the other side, stretch the tight side twice.
- Make time to stretch for 5 minutes each day. Do whatever stretches feel good to you. Also when you are stuck in traffic, practice squeezing your muscles. Make use of your hectic times. Squeeze your shoulder blades together, squeeze your glutes, squeeze your abs. That is how muscles work, so work it!
~
back to top
- Dehydration can cause the muscles to fatigue sooner than if they were hydrated. Be sure you are properly hydrated going into a race or an event especially during humid and hot days.
- The older you are the more sensitive you become to dehydration especially during sports performance (i.e. tennis matches, soccer & basketball games, running and/ or bike races).
- Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance go hand in hand. Make sure the sodium, postassium, calcium & magnesium are in balance especially if you become dehydrated in extreme heat or over a long period of time.
- Stay hydrated. Your body can manage stress more effectively when you are hydrated. You will have more energy and a stronger immune system when you are hydrated.
- Women generally need 91 oz. (2.7 L) of water per day. Men generally require 125 oz. (3.7 L) of water per day. (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Mar/Apr 2004)
~
back to top
- Add fiber to your meals to increase satiety. Fiber adds bulk to a meal without adding additional calories. If you do not like many high fiber foods, check out the pill and powder fiber additives in grocery stores.
- Foods high in sugar & / or saturated fats may stimulate appetite causing you to eat more food more often. Beware of this vicious eating cycle, eat fat and you crave fat.
- Fruits, vegatables & whole grains are good sources of fiber. The fiber slows digestion of sugar so you do not get a spike in blood sugar and later in hunger.
- Read food labels on bread and "whole grain" products. Look for words like "unprocessed," "unbleached," "untreated whole wheat, whold grain, whole oat" etc.
- Good sources of dietary fat include (but are not limited to) plant oils and fish oils such as salmon, tuna, nuts, avacodos, olive oil.
- Keep a nutrition bar in your purse or briefcase in case you get hungry and are short on time. It beats the fast food/ vending machine option.
- Beware of trash foods...handfuls of this, a few pieces of that, dab of cream something, a bite of dessert something. These add up to unwanted fat deposits on the thighs, belly and behind.
- If you really want to lose weight, write down everything that goes in the mouth! Count calories, measure portions, divide out serving sizes! Do this for 2-4 weeks. You will eat less and learn a lot!
- If you know you are going to blow your nutrition on a party, event, vacation, whatever it may be, then plan ahead. Eat less for a few days to build up a deficit of calories, then splurg your way back to even.
- If you are not a fan of raw fruits and veggies but want to eat healthy check the juices these days. Smoothies can be packed full of fruits and veggies and even protein all in one. Odwalla juices (sold at many Whole Foods & Starbucks) are basicly fruits and vegatables in juice form. You've got options so be creative!
~
back to top
- Set one strength goal for the week (i.e. do as many push-ups as you can each day and see how your numbers improve over just one week or see how many crunches you can do in one minute or see how long you can hold a wall sit). Work on your goal each day and see how much you improve over just one week.
- Set one nutritional goal for the week. Eat 3 fruits/ day or start with a good breakfast each day or drink 7-8 glasses of water each day. Pick one nutritional goal to do throughout the week. You will feel better at the end of your week!
- Set one cardio goal for the week. Walk for 20 minutes every day, attend 3 aerobics or cycling classes during the week, take the kids hiking twice in the week or try and increase your running or biking milage this week.
- Set one flexibility goal for the week. Stretch your hamstrings 3 times during your computer work day. Stand up from your desk, bend forward and try to touch your toes, hold 30 seconds and repeat. Your back will thank you, your knees will thank you.
~
back to top
- Why do Cardiovascular exercise?: >40,000 women per year are diaganosed with breast cancer each year while >500,000 die annually of heart disease. (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Mar/Apr 2004)
- Mind/ Body Work: Remember the mind and the body need to learn to work together during both exercise and stress management. Choose a discipline that works for you but choose something mind/body to practice regularly as part of your exercise program. Some examples include: yoga, tai chi, meditation, visualization, progressive relaxation & Pilates.
- Shoes: The shock absorption in athletic shoes wears out before the shoes begin to look worn & torn. Once the shock absorbing capabilities in the shoe wears out your joints take the impact of running, walking, tennis, aerobics, etc. Do you feet a favor. Buy new shoes every three to four months as a habit. You can rotate the old ones for weight lifting or gardening or something that does not require much impact.
- Wieght lifting: As the muscle ages ( after about age 30), strength gains are achieved more and more through muscle fiber recruitment (not necessarily gains in muscle size). As you get older, it becomes more important to perform your repetitions slowly. Count 4 seconds out and 6 seconds back on each repetition.
- Crosstraining: Change up your exercise routine every 6-8 weeks so the body does not get to acclimated to your routine. Simple changes may suffice such as changing the order of your exercises, changing the muscle group pairing (if you split your muscle groups), or changing the tempo of your reps (add 2-3 super slow sets each workout).
- Use your cardio for stress management. Repetitive activities like running & cycling provide great releases for stress.
~
back to top
- Ask your physician, chiropractor, physical therapist, personal trainer or massage therapist to perform a static posture analysis. It is easy to do and very informative. A key to good posture is awareness.
- Gearing up for holiday eating. Add 10 minutes on to your cardio workouts 3-4 times/ week. At the end of the week you will have an extra 30-40 minutes of cardio calorie deficit.
- Take the stairs, park far away, get up and move every hour so you burn extra calories and keep your metabolism up and going.
- Schedule in extra workouts before Thanksgiving comes around so you can go into the holiday in caloric deficit. That way if you do overeat you have a little leeway to work with.
- Eat a healthy breakfast during the holidays. Eating healthy in the morning helps you stay on course, nutritionally, at least for part of the day.
- Managing holiday stress. Get into the habit of taking 10 deep and slow breaths throughout the course of the day. Inhale to the count of 8 and exhale to the count of 12. Inhale and expand your ribcage from the sides and the back. Exhale and visualize tension leaving the body.
- Practice good posture. Stand with your back against a wall. Squeeze your shoulder blades together so your shoulders are all the way against the wall (like military posture). Hold for one minute. Sit with your back against the wall as if you were sitting in an imaginery chair (wall sit). Hold for one minute. Stand up straight (or sit up straight) contract your abs as much as you can (suck em in!). Hold for one minute. Do this 1-3 times per day.
~
back to top
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Frenquently Asked Questions:
There are many variations on equipment for your home workout program. Some folks have as little as resistance tubing and a few sets of weights. Others have full home gyms. It all depends on how much you want to invest. Just about any scenerio is workable so do not worry about having just the right equipment. You can always build as you go.
The appointment lasts from 45-60 minutes. What you do during the appointment depends upon your current fitness goals. Typically you will do about 10-15 resistance training exercises and then stretch. Each appointment is taylored to your current needs. For instance, some days you may want to focus on developing a cardio routine or you may need to focus on stretching and flexibility or you may want to develop a travel routine.
~
back to top
Yes. Several folks do. It provides great motivation and you can save by splitting the cost with your friend.
We work closely with doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors and massage therapists. We do require medical releases for some conditions so that we may work synergisticly with the other medical professionals you are currently working with or recently been working with. We have trained professionals with a great deal of experience working with folks with unique exercise needs.
~
back to top
