Gym Info

Save yourself from stress with your gym membership

Life today can be complex and challenging. We have work and family obligations, and it is tough to juggle all the demands on our time, even when things are going smoothly. Add crazy deadlines at work, or our kids’ extracurricular activities in the mix, and it can seem like there’s just too much going on. When things get especially hectic, it’s easy to try to save some time by cutting out heading to the gym. Yet stressful times are exactly the right times to use the stress relieving benefits our gym memberships can offer us.

Of course, you’re aware that physical exercise relieves stress, and for that reason along, it pays to work out. A good physical workout can energize you for the day’s activities, but it can also help you sleep well at night. You’ll be able to tackle the day’s responsibilities more effectively when you’re well rested.

Many workouts can be a form of meditation, and if you’re feeling stressed, bring this aspect into it as best as you can. Yoga, of course, comes to mind as a good stress reliever. Rowing, running and lifting weights can also be meditative. Clear your mind of everything but your activity and your form, and focus on deep, calm breathes.

If you are lucky enough to have made friends at your gym, your friendships can also be a great source support, which in turn helps you cope better with stress. Even if you don’t discuss personal problems with your gym friends, just getting away from the stressors, and chatting with positive people can help lift your mood.

Eating nutritiously is always important, and let’s face it; when we are stressed, it’s all to easy to turn to sweets and comfort food. By keeping your workouts important, you may find it is easy to keep your good nutritional habits going also.

Should breast and colon cancer survivors return to the gym?

Quality of life can improve and long-term survival rates may improve also

Most of us who go to the gym regularly are healthy and fit. Obviously, we exercise, and many of us also try to eat reasonable amounts of nutritious foods. We do this so that we look good, feel energized, and stay disease-free longer. Of course, we appreciate the benefits of our lifestyle for our health today. How many of us, however, think about what we’ll do if we do get cancer, and survive?

A recent report from the Medical News Today website suggests that we may want to get back into the gym. At least for breast and colon cancer survivors, exercise seems to aid not only quality of life, but also long term survival rates. Although there are many variables in each survivors’ situation, and more studies are needed to make more definite recommendations, if you have survived cancer, it is well worth considering getting back into a workout program.

I know that undergoing cancer treatments can be very grueling and taxing, so I certainly understand where survivors may feel they are not up to exercising. The few people close to me who have had these types of cancers were never that active to start with, and I think they’d feel overwhelmed at the idea. I’d have to approach them very tactfully.

Have you had a close friend or relative who survived cancer and began working out? Did it seem to help their quality of life? Or, are you a survivor yourself? Did you return to working out? If so, did you feel it was the right step to take?

Size up a new sport to spark your fitness

It’s easy to settle into a standard exercise routine when we go the gym. We pick out our favorite treadmill or stationary bike, and grind away for half an hour. Maybe we pick up some dumb bells, or swing a kettlebell a time or two. There is so much more to fitness than this, and one way to get more fit while having fun is to pick up a new sport.

Usually, when you learn a new sport, you also use muscles that you don’t use that often. This helps you become stronger and more flexible in different areas of your body. You may also find that you use different energy pathways. For example, if you are a weightlifter, your body is used to working in the anaerobic pathway. If you start an aerobic sport such as trail running, your body will start to develop the aerobic energy pathway.

Sports can also help you learn hand-eye coordination. Golf does not seem that physically taxing, but a nice golf swing, where your club connects solidly to the ball, does require a great deal of skill.

The classic sport of tennis will get you sprinting, working your arms, and developing your hand-eye coordination. In tennis, playing doubles is usually easier for beginners, and you can play singles if you prefer a tougher workout. Take some lessons, join a league and continue to develop your skills.

Volleyball is easy to learn, and will encourage you to sprint and jump. Sand volleyball especially can be offer a great workout. It’s also a very social sport; it’s just fun to get together with your team.

Learning sports may lead you to refine your regular workout routine, to help overcome weaknesses and become stronger in your new avocation.

Push ups for strength

Any easy way to increase upper body strength

Increasing upper body strength is an important part of your gym routine, yet some people are intimidated by weights, and some people are accustomed to leg oriented workouts such as dance or spin bike classes. Any easy way to increase upper body strength, which you can do in the gym or at home, is to add push ups to your routine.

When you are lacking in upper body strength, you can follow a simple push up progression starting with modified push ups, and building up to advanced ones. If you find it difficult get on the floor, you can start by pushing up from a wall, sturdy table, or similar item. To start floor push ups, you can push up from knees, rather than straight leg push up from the toes.

Once you’ve mastered knee push ups, continue to work on straight leg push ups with toes. You can continue to progress by attempting to push up with enough force that your hand leave the ground. Some people even choose to master hand clap push ups.

As you’ve mastered each step in these various types push ups, for example, you can do 25 without taking a break, start working on the next progression. In all cases, strive for a full range of motion, which means your chest touches the surface your pushing against when in the down position, to fully locking out your arms when in the up position. Keep your back straight and your core tight.

Some people have been led to believe that women are incapable of doing full, straight leg pushups. This is untrue. With lower testosterone levels than men, it may take women longer to build up the required strength, but women are very capable of true push ups.

Setting goals and tracking your progress

Whether you have been going to a gym for years or are new to working out, setting goals and tracking your progress can help you reach improved levels of fitness, and do so more quickly.

Many people go to the gym in an effort to lose weight, but it may make more sense for you to focus on improving your body composition, for example gaining muscle and reducing body fat. Your gym may offer scales that measure body fat, though be aware these can be inaccurate. Some personal trainers may also be able to assess body fat percentage. You can also take your measurements, such as chest, waist, hip, upper arm and thigh measurements, and take inches lost. Once you know your current state, you can come up with a realistic goal. Keep in mind, we are all a little different, and some of us are meant to carry a little extra weight compared to others. Feeling healthy and energetic should be your top goal, rather than achieving an unrealistic body fat percentage.

Performance goals may also be important to you. For example, you may want to improve your strength by increasing the amount of weight you can lift, either by using free weights or resistance equipment. Document where you are now, and develop a program to slowly and safely increase your strength.

If you enjoy dance or kickboxing fitness classes, setting goals can be more difficult because you may not have objective measures to work with. You can, however, start to track your perceived level of effort and how well you are able to keep up with the class. When there are moves that you do most classes, you can track if you are able to do them more easily, or with a greater range of motion.

Runners, cyclists and swimmers can also make notes about their current performance and develop plans to improve.

When tracking your progress, also take note of how you feel, if you’re rested, if you’ve been eating healthy foods, stress level, even the weather, anything that might influence your performance. Tracking these items can also help you stay motivated to keep the rest of your lifestyle balanced.

Nutrition tips for busy people

It can be hard to juggle work, school, family and going to the gym. On top of that, to really benefit from all your hard workouts, you need great nutrition. One solution is to plan and prepare healthy meals and snacks ahead of time. This can be challenging, but easy-to-assemble meals and snacks when you are really crunched for time is well worth the effort.

We’ve all heard how important breakfast is, yet it can be the busiest time of the day for many people. Plan to have quick, easy and healthy breakfasts by hard boiling Omega-3 eggs a head of time. Plain Greek yogurt also packs protein along with calcium, and can be easily sweetened up with fresh or frozen berries, so keep these items on hand. Don’t limit yourself to just traditional breakfast items; last night’s dinner leftovers might make a well-balanced and quick breakfast today.

Lunch is fast and easy when you have already prepared fresh greens, carrots, tomatoes and other raw veggies. Stock a few cans of tuna or a tub of cottage cheese to add protein. Some extra-virgin olive oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar makes a healthy and flavorful salad dressing.

For morning or afternoon snacks, choose some walnuts or almonds, along with some raw veggies or a piece of fruit.

Dinners can be hard to fit in for people who go to the gym after work. You may find that you aren’t in the mood to cook, although you may be hungry after your workout. This is where planning ahead can be very helpful. On weekends, prepare and freeze meals for to have on hand for nights you workout. If you are the type of person who isn’t hungry after working out, you might wish to prepare and freeze healthy soups of meat and vegetables.

What are some tips you have for great nutrition even when you are busy?

Getting fit with kettlebells

Maybe you’ve seen some unusual new equipment at your gym. Maybe the new equipment resembles metal balls with handles. If you’ve been intrigued by those metal balls known as kettlebells, but haven’t yet tried them, you’ll definitely want to do your research on using this piece of gym equipment. Kettlebell exercises can add a fun element and variety to your current workout program. It’s always a good idea to learn new equipment and skills to keep your workouts fresh and interesting.

If your gym offers kettlebell classes, taking classes can help you get a great workout while while under the watchful eye of an instructor. If your gym doesn’t have classes, it may be well worthwhile to have a session or two with a personal trainer to learn some basic exercises and to develop a routine. If those aren’t options for you, you can pick up a high quality book or DVD and learn some kettlebell exercises.

Kettlebell exercises are very diverse, and a well designed routine can help you build upper body strength, core strength, explosive power, and aerobic endurance. You can use kettlebells for exercises similar to traditional barbell exercises, such as deadlifts and squats. Kettlebell swings, where you swing the kettlebell from your thigh area to over your head will help build your core. One of my favorite exercises, the challenging Turkish getup, will help you build overall body strength, balance and mental focus, as you do not want a kettlebell slipping out of your hand and falling on your head or body.

So the next time you go to the gym, don’t just walk by the kettlebells. Learn how you can incorporate them into your workout for added strength and cardio conditioning.

Why You Should Consider Competing

Last week we discussed mental tips for competing, which may have made some of you wonder why anyone would want to put themselves through a competition. Let’s face it; we may like working out and the benefits we get from being strong and active, but many of us have jobs, families and friends that keep up plenty busy. We are not professional athletes. Given that, why should you consider competing?

One reason is competing immediately gives you a goal. Whether you sign up for a 5K, an International distance triathlon, or an Olympic lifting competition, you now have a date by which you’re going to want to be at your best. Competitions encourage you to improve your fitness and skill to achieve your best.

When you prepare for your competitions, you’ll develop a program for training routines and nutrition. By doing this, you’ll gain practice setting objectives. The upcoming competition will motivate you to stick to your program, which in turn will help you develop persistence, a great skill to have in the rest of your life.

During the competition, you’ll have a chance to learn whether your planning and preparation were effective. If it was, congratulate yourself. If it wasn’t, that’s just information that you can use to improve next time. You may have suffered a setback during the event. If so, learn from it. Learning to view setbacks as opportunities to improve can help you keep you enthusiasm high, which will lead to higher levels of achievement.

Competitions cause many people to be anxious and nervous, and competitions can help you learn to channel these feelings positively. Let your nerves fuel your performance during the competition, and you can translate skill this to other areas of your life.

You may also find that you develop deeper friendships with training partners and fellow competitors. There’s nothing quite like going through a challenging experience to bring people closer together.

So, don’t be afraid to consider competing. Regardless of the event you choose to compete in, you’ll be motivated to become the best you can be, physically and emotionally.

Mental Tips for Competing

Many people who faithfully go to gyms and workout aspire to compete in some sort of sport. It may be running 5Ks, triathlons, weightlifting competitions, or informal inter-gym throwdowns. Regardless of the sport, many people also find themselves beset by pre-competition anxiety, which can hurt performance and make the competition less fun.

If you are competing, you can use a few mental tips to help calm the jitters and enjoy the event. You may have performance goals for your competition. One tip is to also have a goal to enjoy yourself regardless of performance. Even after training hard, we can’t always control whether we will have an off day or a little bad luck. With effort though, we can control our attitude, and we might as well enjoy ourselves.

Another tip is to practice relaxing. Focus on taking slow, deep breaths. Think about things you find calming, such as lying on an ocean beach on a sunny summer day. Visualize your event, and visualize yourself doing well. Listening to music that promotes a relaxed state can also help.

Avoid people who make you nervous. Anxiety can be contagious, and if you are trying to remain relaxed, it may be easier to so so if you spend your pre-competition time with people who have a calming influence on you.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Yes, the event might be somewhat unorganized. Maybe the check in volunteer handed you the wrong packet. Think back to your first goal, which is to enjoy yourself, and don’t let little things mar your enjoyment.

Thank the event organizers and especially the volunteers. These people put in a lot of effort to provide an opportunity for you to compete. Not only will your appreciation help them enjoy the event, but it will help you reduce your nerves when you show gratitude to someone else.

The Importance of Sprinting

Rev up your workout with a few short sprints

Many gym goers spend hours a week jogging on a treadmill, hoping to slog their way to fitness and slimness. When they first started this routine, they may have felt their fitness improve, they may have dropped a few pounds, but no longer. The pounds are creeping up and the dedicated gym goer no longer feels she’s getting the same results as she did when she first started.

The gym goer may respond by spending even more time on the treadmill, continuing jogging at an easy, comfortable pace, until she no longer has a life outside of the gym. For a while, she may get results, but once again, the cycle continues, and once again, the weight starts to creep up.

And here’s why. Your body easily adapts to doing low intensity cardio exercise for long periods of time. With this type of routine, you probably aren’t actively building muscle, and you might actually be breaking it down. With less muscle, your metabolism slows, making it easier to gain weight. The more you try to counteract this by adding more low intensity cardio, the more the vicious cycle continues.

It’s time to shake things up. Instead of long hours jogging on the treadmill, add some sprints. Sprint for about 30 seconds, get a few minutes of rest, then sprint again. Yes, it will hurt, yet it will be effective. With that short term pains comes some benefits. You’ll become stronger and faster, and your metabolism will rev up. Your workouts can be much shorter, saving you time for other activities; you can actually have a life off the treadmill again.

Use that extra time to work on some weight training. See the 2/25/12 post for reasons to add muscle.

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