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We use a lot of different types of equipment at Habitat Health and Fitness in Lakeland, FL. For strength building, one of our favorites is kettlebells. Not only does working with kettlebells make the workout more intense, so you'll get more benefit in less time used, it also works the whole body and addresses other forms of fitness besides strength, such as balance, flexibility and endurance. Kettlebell workouts are great for people all fitness levels. It's all a matter of choosing the right weight of kettlebell and learning the proper form.

When you workout with kettlebells, your center of gravity is constantly changing.

Unlike dumbbells and barbells, the center of gravity in a kettlebell is about six to eight inches beyond your hand's grip. That makes it more difficult and also causes a constantly changing center of gravity. Whether you're doing daily activities or on the field or court of your favorite sport, that action is more like the functional experiences you'll have. That not only makes kettlebells good for sports training, but for everyday living.

You'll get a full body workout and burn tons of calories in the process.

One simple kettlebell move, such as a swing, can work as many as 600 muscles before you've completed it. Because of it's off center nature, you'll work your core muscles, both the movers and the stabilizers. Working all these muscles at once burns tons of calories. That changing center of gravity causes stabilizer muscles to go into action and burn more than you would just using dumbbells. You can burn between 15 and 20 calories per minute working out with kettlebells.

Increase all types of fitness when you workout with kettlebells.

Not only is a kettlebell workout created to boost your strength, it also improves flexibility and gets your heart pumping fast to improve your cardiovascular system. It's the Swiss Army knife of workouts, making it good for almost any goal, level of fitness and useful even for people with special needs. The swinging motion builds muscles during the lengthening phase and the shortening phase, which means you'll get results faster.

• While strength building will improve your joints and prevent injury, kettlebells add to that by working the smaller muscles that keep your joints aligned and makes them stronger. The stronger they are, the less resistant they are to injury.
• Even though you get a great cardio workout, unlike running, kettlebells workouts are low impact. Your feet never leave the floor and there's no jarring motion during kettlebell swings.
• Kettlebells are great workouts for athletes. They help develop explosive power. Sports like gymnastics, track, cycling, basketball and football, to name a few, require explosive strength and power if you want to do your best.
• People love kettlebell workouts as an alternative to traditional workouts. They're fun to do and can be done almost anywhere. You don't need a lot of space to store the kettlebell or do the exercise.

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

If you want great looking abs and a flat belly that tells the world you're fit, it takes work. At Habitat Health and Fitness in Lakeland, FL, we help you achieve that goal. We provide workouts for a flat stomach, but it takes more than that. Great looking abs start in the kitchen and continue in the gym. It doesn't matter how fit you are, if there's a layer of fat covering that flat tummy, nobody will know. You may have the best abs, but won't have a flat stomach.

Bodyweight exercises are a great place to start.

One of the toughest exercises that looks so simple is the plank. You can do a forearm or the more difficult straight arm plank. The more difficult straight arm plank starts in push-up position with your hands directly beneath the shoulders, pushing against the floor and body straight. Just hold the position for at least twenty seconds, or longer if you can. If you're a beginner, start with the forearm plank. It's the same as the straight arm, but you bend at the elbow, putting your forearm on the floor and weight on the forearm not the hands. Your elbows should be in line with your shoulders and forearms parallel to the body.

Strength training can help build strong abs and burn off the fat that's hiding them.

Studies show that when you use strength training as part of your workout program, it is far more effective than just using endurance training alone. Strength training builds muscle tissue and the more you have, the more calories you burn. While endurance/cardio training burns calories, but those calories come from both muscle tissue and fat tissue. Why is this important? The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn even when you're resting, so you lose weight faster.

Combine strength training with HIIT---high intensity interval training.

What is HIIT? It's not a type of exercise, but rather a way of doing any type of exercise. You simply do the exercise at peak intensity with your heart rate high, then reduce the intensity for an equal or longer time with a recovery period. You can do it with any exercise, but when you combine it with strength training, you'll build muscle and burn calories so your strong abs will show. Not only is getting rid of belly fat great for showing off your abs, it's also important to your health. Visceral fat, fat around your middle that covers the stomach, is the most dangerous type of fat to your health.

• Try an isometric exercise that's often called a vacuum. Stand up straight, inhale deeply and then as you exhale, pull your stomach in as tight as possible, as though you're trying to touch it to your backbone. Hold as long as you can.
• Find a group of tummy exercises you can do at home and do them throughout the day. A bridge is a good tummy tightener. Lay on your back but pick your hips up off the floor until your body forms a straight line. Hold for as long as you can.
• Do traditional circuit training. Circuit training is a way to combine strength and cardio training. You can do almost any type of exercises, just take no breaks or shorter ones in between exercises.
• At Habitat Health and Fitness we help develop a program exclusively for you and your goals. We create workouts that flatten your stomach, as they build your strength, flexibility and endurance.

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

It only takes making a few changes at a time to get big results. At Habitat Health and Fitness in Lakeland, Florida, FL we help you make those changes and identify those small steps to a healthier future. It can start with getting more exercise. You don't have to become an Olympic athlete overnight. In fact, it can be as simple as walking a little further by parking at the first spot you find when you shop, rather than circling the parking lot to find the spot closest to the door. It might mean getting up and moving a bit every hour if you're at a sedentary job or taking the stairs for a floor or two rather than the elevator.

Cut back or eliminate added sugar and build from there.

You don't have to make all the changes at once, you can start by cutting back on added sugar for a day and build from there. Start with easily identified sugar, like candy bars, donuts or pastries or soft drinks. Stick with it until you have that one area conquered. If you're a true fan of cola, switching out isn't easy. Don't go for the diet substitute, since it can be just as unhealthy as the real version. Opt for water or infused water if you want a flavorful option. You don't have to give up cola entirely, limit yourself to half the amount you drink each day, then a few weeks later, cut that amount in half.

Schedule a walk every day.

Put a 30-minute walk in your schedule every day. If 30 minutes at one time is tough to schedule or you don't have the energy for that long of walk, break the time up to three ten minute sessions or start with a 15-minute walk if you're really out of shape. You can even march in place in your living room for ten minutes while you watch television. Just keep moving. You'll be surprised at how much better you start to feel. When you feel comfortable walking 30 minutes, start extending your distance, so you'll have to walk faster.

Increase the amount of vegetables you eat.

Look for ways to increase the servings of fruit and vegetables you eat each day. If you love mashed potatoes, keep them in your menu, but substitute a fourth of the potatoes with cauliflower when you boil them. Try making red potatoes and leave the skins on when you mash them. You'll still get the mashed potato taste, and even the creamy feeling of potatoes in your mouth but with more nutrients from the skins and the cauliflower. You can experiment with other additions, such as switching out regular spaghetti for spaghetti squash, add to omelets at breakfast or make smoothies with a few extra vegetables.

• Have fruits and vegetables prepared and ready for snacking in the refrigerator. Take healthy snacks with you, so you won't be tempted to grab unhealthy ones.
• Switch to whole grain bread. Just like most highly processed food, white bread contains far fewer nutrients than whole grain does. Whole grain not only adds more vitamins and minerals to your diet, but also more fiber.
• Grill or bake your food, cut out frying. You can steam or boil, too. You'll cut the calories significantly and will probably love the taste of food more. Often, it's the grease and breading that keeps us eating fried food.
• Get adequate sleep and drink plenty of water. Sleep is often neglected, yet both the body and mind need it. Lack of sleep triggers the production of the hunger hormone, making you feel more hungry and less satisfied. Drinking more water can also fill you up, while maintaining a healthy body.

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

You don't have to take a lot of time to log your workouts, but you should do it. There are a lot of reasons for doing it and a lot of ways to do it. You can keep it simple, by creating a workout schedule that includes the exercises you do each day, the number of repetitions and number of sets of each. Just duplicate that for each week and adjusting the number of reps and sets as your fitness level improves. You can also make it more informative by including measurements and weight once a week and how hard or easy the workout was, so you know when to ramp it up and make the workout harder.

You'll save time when you have a workout log.

Have you ever started to exercise and had to stop and think about what to do next or finished and realized you forgot an exercise? It happens to everyone at some time. Even if you've done a workout for a long time, it can happen. However, we don't recommend doing any workout for longer than six weeks without changing it. Having that log can remind you what to do next and how many of each exercise to do.

You can track your progress easier and ensure you make progress.

Even if you start simple, such as doing a set of ten exercises and three sets of each, you may not progress at the same rate for each type of exercise. You might find some are easier for you to do because that particular muscle group started out more toned. Increasing the difficulty by increasing the number of reps and sets becomes more difficult the more accurate you are at challenging yourself. Logging your workout helps you even on those mornings you're not quite awake.

Keeping extra notes can help you look for alternate ways to address an issue. If a regular push-up is continuously too hard, opt for an easier version, like a knee bent push-up until you're strong enough for traditional ones.

Saving those logs and periodically looking back at where you started can be a big boost no matter what your goal. If you are disappointed in your ability to do a workout or shed a pound, seeing the progress can keep you motivated.

If you switch your workouts periodically, as you should, keeping old logs can give you a go-to plan months later. You can use some or all the workout but adjust the reps and sets upward.

At Habitat Health and Fitness, we track clients for a number of reasons. One of those is to ensure the workout is giving the best results. If you're not seeing the changes you want, it's time to take it up a notch or switch out some of the exercises.

When you come to Habitat Health and Fitness in Lakeland, FL, you'll notice we focus primarily on exercise, but that doesn't mean we don't encourage people to eat healthy. That's especially true if you have a condition, such as diabetes or heart disease, which responds well to healthy eating. Many of the healthy foods are also foods that are good for your heart. They're whole foods that contain heart healthy nutrients, such as Omega3 fatty acids, magnesium, vitamin D, folic acid, CoQ10 and potassium. You don't have to have a heart condition to benefit from eating these foods, they provide other benefits, particularly for those who want to lose weight.

The American diet is too high in Omega 6 fatty acids.

The body can make all types of fatty acids but two, these are essential fatty acids and derived from foods that contain Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. The ideal ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids is one part Omega 3 to four parts Omega 6. The average American diet today is one part Omega-3 to twenty-five parts Omega-6. That's bad for heart health and can also increase agitation and other problems. One study in a violent prison, showed that by increasing the amount of Omega-3 and reducing the amount of Omega-6 it cut the amount of violence in half. Sources of Omega 3 are fatty fish such as salmon, herring or flaxseeds and other seeds and nuts. They can provide heart healthy nutrition and other benefits.

Sunshine is healthy.

You might worry about getting too much sun and that's a possibility if you don't sun safely. However, the right amount of exposure to the sun is important. It helps the body create vitamin D. Vitamin D helps regulate blood pressure and provides other healthy benefits. Smart sunning may not be an option, especially on overcast days. Luckily, many foods are high in vitamin D. Egg yolks, cheese, beef liver and products fortified with vitamin D can help you get the required daily amount you need.

Are you getting enough magnesium?

If you have high blood pressure, maybe you lack magnesium. A lack of magnesium not only causes blood pressure to rise, it causes muscle cramps---which includes the heart muscle, osteoporosis, mental disorders, irregular heartbeat and asthma. What should you eat? Avocados, raw spinach, soybeans and a favorite, dark chocolate all contain magnesium.

• Eat Brussels sprouts, lentils, broccoli and asparagus to get heart healthy folic acid. It lowers homocysteine levels in the blood and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke by 20%
• Are you getting adequate fiber? Fiber not only helps you lower bad cholesterol, it also helps you lose weight, which also reduces the risk of heart disease.
• Organ meats like liver are high in CoQ10. Low levels of CoQ10 are linked to high blood pressure and heart failure.
• The more colorful the food on your plate, which means including all colors of vegetables, the healthier your heart, since different colored vegetables contain different phytonutrients. Don't forget about a program of regular exercise to boost your heart health either.

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