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Easy Ways To Burn More Fat

Easy Ways To Burn More Fat

One of the goals people frequently choose is to change their body composition by boosting muscle tissue and reducing fat. People search for easy ways to burn more fat and build more muscle tissue. Some work. Others are failures. Making small changes in your habits can make a huge difference. Every little bit counts. Use these techniques to increase the fat you burn and help you keep it from returning.

Get more active.

That may sound simple and extremely obvious, but it's more than keeping a workout schedule. It means using non-gym time to be active. Take the steps instead of the elevator. Park further from the store and walk. Get up and move about every hour for five minutes. That does more than burn fat. It improves your overall health. Take time to play but make it active play instead of a computer game. Shoot hoops with the kids or play hide-and-seek inside on rainy days. Go out dancing on date night.

Focus on strength-building exercises.

Strength training burns calories as it builds muscle tissue. Running may burn massive calories, but they are from lean muscle tissue and fat. Your body requires aerobic exercise, but it shouldn't be the only type you choose. When lifting weights or doing push-ups, the calories come from fat, not muscle tissue. Building muscle tissue also helps to keep fat from returning. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does. The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn.

Have a pre-workout and post-workout snack.

Pre-workout snacks provide energy for your body so you maximize the benefits of your workout. It also improves recovery when you build muscle tissue. Post-workout snacks also trigger recovery. The magic of muscle building takes place during recovery time. It's when the micro tears in the muscle that were created when exercising heal and make the muscle bigger and stronger. The snack replenishes the glycogen in the muscle. It should be a carbohydrate and a protein.

  • Drink more water, black tea, or coffee instead of soft drinks. It reduces the amount of calories you consume. Drinking a cup of black coffee before exercising can improve your workout.
  • Vary the intensity of your workout and make it a HIIT workout. Alternate the intensity between high intensity and a recovery pace. HIIT workouts burn more calories in less time and continue to burn extra after the workout.
  • Make sure your diet contains protein, carbs, and fat. Some people make the mistake of eliminating fat. Fat-free products often contain more sugar. Healthy fat is necessary to increase fat burning.
  • Don't work the same muscles intensely each day when doing strength training. Your muscles need time to heal. Wait 48 to 72 hours before working the same muscle groups. If you don't, you could lose muscle mass.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Bursting Through Fitness Plateaus

Bursting Through Fitness Plateaus

At Habitat Health and Fitness in Lakeland, FL, we work with people of all fitness levels. Some are beginners, some are fit and working toward their next level, and a few come because they hit plateaus. It might be a weight loss, strength, flexibility, or endurance plateau. It can be anything that stalls your progress. Finding the cause of the plateau is the first step. Creating a program to counteract it is the second.

Make sure it's a plateau.

If your weight loss slows down, it may be perfectly normal. When you first start a weight loss journey, you'll lose weight faster. Some of the weight is water weight. Water retention can make weight fluctuate dramatically. You weigh more, so your body requires more calories. A 20-pound excess is like carrying a 20-pound weight everywhere you go. You'll burn more calories. As you lose weight, you don't have to work as hard to do daily tasks, so you don't burn as many calories. If you're still losing weight, just not as much, you may still be on the right track.

Are you pushing your hardest?

If you've been doing the same workout for several months without adjusting for your fitness improvements, you'll plateau. Mix it up and make the workout harder by adding sets and reps. The more you do any movement, whether it's an exercise or dance routine, the more efficient your body becomes. That efficiency causes it to use fewer calories. Switching your routine more often can help you burn more calories. It also can help you work muscles on different planes, improving endurance, strength, and flexibility.

Are you pushing too hard?

Over-exercising is just as bad, if not worse, as not doing enough. If you're strength training the same muscle groups every day and pushing hard or doing HIIT---high intensity interval training---daily, you aren't giving your body a chance to recover. Recovery is when all the magic takes place, especially for muscle building. When you push hard, micro-tears form on the muscles. It takes between 48 to 72 hours for them to heal. Not allowing recovery time continues to tear down the muscles without any time to rebuild them. Alternate your strength-building or HIIT workouts with recovery exercises.

  • If your weight loss plateaued, you may eat more than you think. Are you counting the fancy coffee drinks or colas? Do you always count the handful of M&Ms or those last bites of food left in the serving dish?
  • Are you getting enough sleep? When you sleep, your body heals. It helps build muscle tissue. Lack of sleep slows you. You don't burn as many calories. Lack of sleep increases the hunger hormone and diminishes the satiety hormone.
  • Are you sitting longer than an hour at a time? Studies show sitting longer than an hour at a time diminishes all the hard work you put in at the gym. Every hour, get up and move around for a few minutes.
  • Check your exercise program. If you're working with a trainer, the trainer continuously does this to ensure it's effective and matches your potential. Look at the program itself, the intensity, and the frequency.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Balancing Fitness And Life

Balancing Fitness And Life

Balancing your life isn't always easy. Sometimes, you must spend more time with your family or your job. Most busy people often forget about one aspect of life. That aspect is self-care, which includes fitness. It can go the other way, too. If you're ignoring your social life, family, or job to spend all day at the gym or limit your food intake to narrow food groups, you won't have balance either.

Do you schedule your workout?

If you put your exercise on your schedule, you'll be more apt to do it. It becomes as important as every other appointment you have. Don't schedule too much time. That either leads to overworking at the gym or wasting time there. If you have a trainer, the trainer sets the time for your workout. You add in enough time to shower and change clothes. For people without a trainer, spend between thirty and sixty minutes, depending on your fitness level, type of workout, and factors like how crowded the gym is. If it's much longer, you're either wasting time or over-exercising.

Fitness should play a role in your life, not take over your life.

Fitness allows you to enjoy life to its fullest. If you're spending all your time exercising, you're failing at that. Fitness is a way to stay healthier and have more energy. You may have a fitness goal, but it's not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to live your best life. If you aren't spending time to stay healthy, you'll miss a lot of enjoyment life has to offer. Playing with your children is more wearing. You won't function as well at work.

Eating should be pleasurable.

One joy in life is food. Eating should be a pleasant experience. If you're eating quickly, you aren't enjoying your food. If you're constantly dieting and eliminating most healthy food, you're also not enjoying food. Focus on eating healthy. Plan meals and snacks so they're available when you need them. Eat slower, chew your food thoroughly, and enjoy each bite. You'll eat less, enjoy it more, and improve your digestion.

  • Allow your muscles to recover 48 to 72 hours after doing strength-building exercises. It lets the muscles heal. During recovery time, the muscles mend micro-tears. If you don't give it time, those muscles won't heal, and you'll be worse off than when you started.
  • If you spend too much time exercising and ignoring other parts of your life, you'll notice changes in your social life and relationships. If you're overtraining, your mood will be negative. You'll get sick more frequently.
  • A good social life can extend your life expectancy. Studies indicate that smiling more and socializing helps you live longer. You're often more active. Don't forget to make time for friends and family.
  • Our training sessions are designed to blend the right intensity with appropriate timing to maximize the benefits. If you want more exercise, making your life more active with family and friends is an option.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


How To Get The Best Sleep Ever

How To Get The Best Sleep Ever

You may be in bed for eight or nine hours but not feel rested the next morning. That's because you aren't getting the best sleep possible. No matter how long you sleep, if it's not a sound sleep, you'll wake up feeling just as tired as you did when you went to bed. A lot of things can affect the quality of sleep. Lack of sleep can take its toll on you mentally and physically. It can diminish your immunity and even make it more difficult to lose weight.

You need to go through several sleep cycles every night.

There are four stages of sleep. Three are non-rapid eye movement ---NREM and one is rapid eye movement---REM. During the NREM sleep stages, the body makes repairs, breathing slows, and blood pressure drops. It's when more blood goes to the muscles to do repairs. If you're building muscles, that's when the magic takes place. During REM sleep, you dream. There's increased brain activity. It's when your brain is reorganizing and revitalizing. Lack of any stage diminishes your immune system and reduces the hormones necessary to build muscle tissue.

Everyone's sleep requirement is different.

You might need six hours of sleep, but your brother needs nine to function at his best. Even within families, the sleep requirement differs, but the average amount necessary is eight to nine hours. Once you determine the hours you require, creating a sleep schedule helps improve the quality of your sleep. You'll fall asleep faster and sleep sounder. It sounds easy enough, but it does require you to go to bed and get up at the same time daily, even on weekends.

Improve your sleep by keeping your room cooler.

Like the number of hours of sleep, everyone's perfect sleep temperature is different. Research shows that for most people, the temperature is usually between 60 and 68 degrees, with 65 degrees the most common. Ensuring your room is dark is also vital. Turn off electronic devices like cell phones, TVs, and computers. Stay off your phone or computer an hour before bedtime.

  • Some people find it hard to sleep if they're hungry. It's a survival instinct. Eating almonds, turkey, or walnuts can help. Drinking a cup of chamomile tea has apigenin that promotes sleep.
  • If you smoke or consume higher amounts of caffeine drinks like coffee or colas, quit early in the evening or late in the afternoon. They're stimulants that can keep you awake.
  • Learn meditation or breathing techniques that help you relax and fall asleep. It helps divert your mind and improves your chances of falling asleep more quickly. Using mental imagery can also help you sleep.
  • Regular exercise can help you sleep. Improved sleep boosts athletic performance. Exercise increases the ability to fall asleep. It also enhances the quality of sleep.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Can Working Out Help My Anxiety?

Can Working Out Help My Anxiety?

Many mental health specialists are using new techniques to supplement their therapy. They're prescribing exercise to help people with anxiety. It helps relieve severe anxiety, so you can imagine how working out can benefit people who face mild cases of temporary anxiety, like having the jitters about a job interview or an upcoming test. Getting up and taking a half-hour break walking or pushing it hard at the gym can bring relief. It's not the answer to all problems. If you have debilitating anxiety, always seek professional help.

Studies indicate that exercise may be more beneficial than medication.

Newer studies have convinced many therapists to prescribe exercise instead of medication as their adjunct therapy for people with anxiety or depression. It boosts health, boosts the immune system, and improves the quality of life. It's also free and has no side effects except better health. The exercise doesn't have to be formal. It can be as simple as walking at a moderate pace three or four times a week for a half hour or more.

It helps reduce the effect of the fight-or-flight response.

When you feel anxious or panicked, it causes a stress reaction that's as old as mankind. It helped preserve the species and protect it from dangers. The brain triggers the release of hormones that prepare the body to run or fight. It increases heart rate and blood pressure and sends blood to extremities and away from digestion and other functions---which explains that feeling in the pit of your stomach. You mimic the movements of running or fighting and increase blood circulation when you work out. It burns off stress hormones and increases hormones that make you feel good. They ease anxiety and help you relax.

Exercising helps you change the loop of negative information in your brain.

People suffering from anxiety often have a picture loop running through their brain. It's one of doom and gloom with dangers behind every tree. Focusing on your workout can break that mental loop and help free you from anxiety, at least for a while. It helps decrease muscle tension. Exercise increases serotonin, an anti-anxiety neurochemical. It also increases BDNF and other anti-anxiety brain chemicals and changes brain chemistry.

  • Exercise increases the beneficial microbes in your gut. They also add to the production of chemicals that make you feel good and relieve stress.
  • You'll sleep better at night when you exercise. Lack of sleep can add to anxiety or create mild cases if you don't normally experience it. You'll think more clearly and function better when you get quality sleep.
  • When you exercise regularly, it improves your posture. Good posture makes other people see you as more confident and less anxious. When people treat you as though you are more confident, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • Regular exercise boosts your self-esteem and self-image as it builds confidence. Try our semi-private sessions for free. You'll love how you feel after exercising.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Low-Impact Ways To Stay Fit

Low-Impact Ways To Stay Fit

Low-impact exercises help you stay fit without hammering your joints and exacerbating pain. Many second-floor apartment dwellers in Lakeland, FL, also use them to exercise quietly and not disturb the neighbors below them. Mothers-to-be also are encouraged to use low-impact exercises, particularly later in their pregnancy. When you do these types of exercises, you keep at least one foot on the ground at all times. Fast walking is low-impact while running isn't. That's because when you run, there's twice as much impact since, at some point during the stride, both feet lift off the ground. The force when your foot hits when running is twice as much as walking.

Flexibility exercises like stretching are low-impact.

You lengthen the muscles when you stretch. If you do high-impact exercises while lengthening the muscles, it can cause damage. It's why most slow stretching exercises are low-impact. The concept behind doing flexibility training is to improve the range of motion. They include side leg lifts, squats, and lunges. They also include flexibility exercises like the cat-cow yoga poses. Most yoga poses are low-impact, just as most tai chi movements are. It may be why tai chi is so popular with seniors, who often have joint issues.

There are low-impact cardio exercises.

Running isn't the only cardio. As noted previously, walking is a low-impact exercise that helps build cardiovascular endurance. Other low-impact cardio includes riding a bike, swimming, and rowing. You boost your circulation with these exercises and increase your heart rate and the oxygen you breathe in, something necessary to qualify as cardio. Low-impact cardio helps joints as it improves your heart and lungs. The increased circulation also increases the circulation of synovial fluid that lubricates the joints without adding stress.

Strength-building exercises can also be low-impact.

Low-impact workouts also help build the strength of ligaments and muscles surrounding the joints to help relieve pressure that causes pain. Bodyweight exercises like push-ups and planks are examples. Clapping push-ups and burpees are high-impact. Hip bridges, squats, and dumbbell curls are examples of strength-builders that increase strength. Some of these strength-builders also improve flexibility and endurance.

  • You can modify any low-impact exercise by alternating between high-intensity, going at maximum speed, and a recovery pace. Bike riding, walking, and swimming lend themselves well to the modifications.
  • One of the best places to do low-impact exercises is in a pool. Your body buoyancy combines with the water resistance to maximize the workout without harming joints. Aquatic exercises are low-impact.
  • Jumping jacks are high-impact, but you can change that. Instead of jumping as you spread your legs outward or pull them together, take a step with one foot outward and then back together. Do arm movements as you normally would.
  • Even though low-impact exercises provide benefits, always check with your healthcare professional before starting any exercise program. If you're using the services of a personal trainer and have a health condition that could affect that condition, let the trainer know.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Fun Ways To Improve Your Fitness

Fun Ways To Improve Your Fitness

If you come to the gym three times a week, you get the necessary weekly exercise experts recommend. Does that mean you don't have to do anything active when you're not working out? Creating a habit of working out at the same time each day can improve your chances of sticking with a program. On the days away from the gym, staying active and improving your fitness helps you maintain that schedule. It doesn't have to be traditional exercise. It can be something fun like bike riding or basketball.

Rock climbing, hiking, and biking get you closer to nature.

It takes a lot of upper-body strength, flexibility, and balance to do rock climbing. It's best to learn how to do it before trying it alone. Top-roping and bouldering are two types of rock climbing that beginners can do. You can do them indoors or outdoors. Hiking and biking are perfect activities to do with the kids. Get a mountain or trail bike for more rugged terrain and a huge test of your strength and endurance.

Turn on the music and dance or take a dance class.

Dancing fast will provide a good workout, as will ballroom dancing and ballet. All types of dances provide flexibility, endurance, and some strength training. You don't have to reserve dancing for your appointment time with exercise. Take a walk at that time to maintain the habit and go dancing at night. Dance classes can help you feel more comfortable when the band starts playing or can add variety to your normal routine. You can even take a dance class with your children.

Swimming is one of the best exercises for building strength, improving flexibility, and boosting cardio.

Swimming is low-impact and won't damage joints. Water is denser than air, so there's more resistance when you move. That increases the calories you burn and builds muscle tissue faster without exacerbating joint pain. Exercising in the water adds a new dimension to the workout. You can even play water games and have swimming competitions.

  • Adopt a healthy sport or hobby. Basketball, racquetball, or tennis are active sports that keep you moving. Golf is another option you can adjust to your fitness level. You get the most exercise by walking and carrying clubs.
  • Create challenges with inexpensive hula hoops. Get everyone in the family hula hoops and create competitions and challenges. If your neighbors are also looking for fitness ideas, make neighborhood challenges.
  • If walking is your favorite activity, make the walk more challenging and beneficial. Alternate the intensity by walking at peak intensity first and then switching to a recovery pace and back to peak intensity.
  • Take a self-defense class or learn martial arts. You'll be surprised at how physically demanding those classes can be. You'll improve your health and safety.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Reasons Why Physical Activity Is So Important

Reasons Why Physical Activity Is So Important

If you live in Lakeland, FL, you might be considering increasing your physical activity. Like many people, you probably realize how important it is. It helps you look good, feel good, and have an improved outlook on life. You need four types of fitness: flexibility, endurance, balance, and strength. Finding activities that meet that need can be difficult. It's one reason people use the services of a personal trainer and workout at a gym. It rounds out their physical fitness program.

You'll increase your endurance and cardiovascular health.

The more you exercise, the more efficient your heart becomes. It makes it easier for the heart to relax and pump blood more efficiently. It takes less effort. Exercise increases nitric oxide. It relaxes blood vessels. The more relaxed vessels are, the less effort your heart has to make. Exercise boosts circulation by 25% and keeps vessels more flexible.

Exercise strengthens muscles and improves insulin resistance.

People who maintain their strength tend to have fewer accidents and injuries. Exercise improves muscle strength. Exercising also improves the body's ability to process glucose. It makes the cells more sensitive to insulin, so they open to absorb glucose. That reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. It also aids in weight control by increasing the calories you burn. Obesity is now the leading cause of preventable death. The more muscles you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does. That also helps control weight.

Exercise boosts your brain power.

When you exercise, it reduces the tendency for the body to trigger the fight-or-flight response. It also helps burn off cortisol and causes the body to release "happy hormones" like endorphins, which are natural pain relievers. It improves your mood by reducing the fight or flight response, increases circulation which can clear your head, and improves cognitive functioning. Exercise releases BDNF--- brain-derived neurotrophic factor. BDNF improves your mood and brain functioning, helping you to think better.

  • Osteoporosis causes weak, brittle bones. It occurs because muscles become weak and don't tug on the bones, so calcium, which makes bones strong, leaches out and isn't replaced. Weight-bearing exercise, such as walking or weightlifting, offsets it.
  • As you age, regular exercise is even more important. It improves balance, slows aging, and helps prevent injury. It can make the difference between living independently and requiring assistance.
  • If you have arthritis, a painful condition, or painful muscles from overworking them, mild exercise can help. It helps keep joints lubricated, can relieve chronic pain, and improves circulation to promote healing.
  • Exercise lengthens your life. Studies show that active people tend to live longer. It improves the quality of the extra years, too. It keeps you younger at a cellular level.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Eat, Drink, And Sweat

Eat, Drink, And Sweat

You'll look and feel better when you focus on what you eat and drink and sweat a little at the gym as you exercise. Living better means feeling better and having a healthier lifestyle. If you don't feel good, how can you enjoy everything life offers? When you sweat in the gym, you won't get dripping wet doing everyday activities or finish drenched in sweat walking with the kids in the park. It means having the endurance to keep up with others your age or younger or outpacing them.

What you eat makes a difference.

You can't out-exercise a bad diet. No matter how much you exercise, you won't be your best if you eat junk. The saying, "You are what you eat," is true. Too much sugar in your diet is linked to metabolic issues, dental carries, high blood pressure, and depression. It causes your skin to age faster and may contribute to acne. It accelerates cognitive decline and adds to the risk of diabetes.

It's not just food with sugar that's a problem.

Highly processed food often contains sugar. It's not healthy for other reasons, too. It lacks nutrients and is high in empty calories. It takes more than avoiding food harmful to you; you also need to eat nutritious food, too. The best way to boost your nutrition is to eat more whole foods. These are foods closest to their natural state, such as vegetables, fruit, lean animal products, and whole grains.

What you drink can affect your health.

Are soft drinks at the top of your list for daily drinks or do you have a few beers or other alcoholic beverages daily? Both may negatively affect your health. Soft drinks are high in sugar and contain phosphoric acid. Some studies show that people who drink soft drinks have a higher incidence of osteoporosis. Soft drinks can expand your waistline. One study shows that diet soft drinks may be the biggest culprit, with people who drink several a day having the biggest waist circumference.

  • You can substitute soft drinks with water, green tea, or a cup of coffee. Several studies show that people who drink green tea live longer. Other studies show that drinking coffee before working out makes the session more beneficial.
  • The longer you follow an exercise program, the more benefits you'll receive. Studies show benefits for the body and the brain are cumulative. It improves physical and cognitive functioning, plus improves your mood.
  • Even if you don't sweat, increasing your daily exercise provides benefits. Adding a half hour to 45 minutes of walking every day offers benefits. You don't have to do it all at once. You can break it down to a ten or fifteen-minute session.
  • You'll be surprised at how much better you feel when you eat healthy food for a few weeks. It's hard to give up sugar, but worth the effort since everything will taste better.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness


Easy Workouts To Do On Your Lunch Break

Easy Workouts To Do On Your Lunch Break

Everyone has times when there's more work than there is in the day. It's hard to find the time to exercise. If there's no other way to exercise, you can do these easy workouts on your lunch break. It's not as good as going to the gym and pushing yourself to the limit, but you won't have to shower after doing these. Doing something is better than doing nothing. These workouts won't replace a traditional exercise program but fill in well in a pinch.

Walk to lunch and make it a HIIT workout.

HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. HIIT isn't a specific exercise but a way of doing any exercise. It alternates between a high intensity and a recovery pace. You can walk to lunch, pushing yourself sometimes, then slowing down to recover. If traffic is busy, you may even beat those who drove. You also can use HIIT in the building. Use some of your breaks to run up and down the stairs. Just call it your office step workout.

Workout at your office.

You can do several exercises in the privacy of your office or cubicle. Create a list of exercises that don't require equipment or can use office furniture instead. When you have a minute or two, do a few sets of one of those until you complete your list. Tricep dips using a stable chair without rollers, calf raises, squats, desk push-ups, and lunges are easy to do at the office. You can do jumping jacks while standing and seated leg lifts, leg extensions, side twists, and flutter kicks when seated.

Break your workout into sections.

You don't have to do your entire exercise session at once. If you have five to ten minutes in the morning before you shower or while waiting for coffee, use that five minutes to do part of your session. You can do another session whenever you have five minutes or more of uninterrupted time. Keep a list with the entire workout and a place to check when you complete it. Keep it close so you're ready when there's room in your schedule.

  • Get two sets of resistance bands, one for home and one for your office if you work outside the home. Many exercises allow you to sit and do other things while using them. Sidekicks, leg pulses, and twists are a few.
  • If time is short, you can do a regular session, increase the intensity. You'll get as much benefit from a shorter but more intense workout. You can also cut the time by using the HIIT format.
  • Work on flexibility on those days when your schedule is busy. Desk stretches improve flexibility and help relieve tension. Stretch your entire body. Clasp your hands together and raise your arms above your head. Bend from side to side.
  • Put extra vigor into every movement to supplement your workout. If you're going up the stairs, push yourself to run up them. If you're picking up clothes, do deep knee bends to do it.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness