Fitness & Wellness

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


How To Start Working Out For Beginners

How To Start Working Out For Beginners

If you're starting your fitness program, it can be confusing to know what to do. If you're strength-building, do you go heavy with fewer reps or go light with more? You want to spend your time maximizing results and not be counterproductive. Here are some tips for working out for beginners that people in Winter Haven, FL, found beneficial. The first is simple. Start by becoming more active. Increase the activity in your daily life to prepare you for more strenuous workouts.

No matter what your initial workout is, focus on form.

Even if you're starting out walking, form is still vital. Stand up straight and avoid leaning forward or backward. Keep your eyes forward with your chin parallel to the ground. Relax your shoulders and hold them back. Tighten your core and keep your pelvis in a neutral position, neither forward nor backward. You probably never thought of how important form was when you walked. Now, transfer that to traditional exercises. You'll benefit from learning the proper form first, even if you only do a few exercises initially. Focusing on your form helps prevent injury. Taking it slower keeps you from overdoing it and developing muscles too sore to exercise for a while.

Write out your goals and how you're going to achieve them.

To get the results you want requires you to know what you want. You must identify it to write out steps to achieve it. Instead of saying, "I want to lose weight," you need to note how much you want to lose and pick an achievable timeline. For example, losing two pounds a week is doable, so saying you want to lose 50 pounds in 25 weeks fits that description. You then can create a plan. Include diet and exercise in that plan for weight loss.

Make your fitness protocol part of your daily schedule.

Change how you think about exercise. Consider your workout time an appointment you must keep. Schedule it at the same time each day. That helps it become a habit. It becomes as automatic as brushing your teeth or taking a specific exit to get to work. Put your workout on your calendar. When making plans, don't even consider canceling it for another function. You wouldn't cancel a doctor's appointment to go to lunch with a friend, would you? Consistency is the key to success.

  • Include all types of fitness in your workout: strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility. Vary your workout instead of focusing only on one area, like running for endurance.
  • Don't compare your progress to anyone else's. Men lose weight faster than women. People who were previously fit get back into shape quicker. Always compete with yourself for improved results.
  • Hold yourself accountable. Most people can't do that. Having a workout partner helps. Our personal trainers hold people accountable, and one reason personal trainers are so beneficial.
  • Always track your progress. Track your workout, recording sets and reps. Record your weight and measurements along the way. Use medical statistics like blood pressure if you're exercising for health reasons.

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


The Magic Of Exercise Is In Recovery

The Magic Of Exercise Is In Recovery

Clients at Habitat Health and Fitness in Lakeland, FL, understand they shouldn't exercise the same muscles intensely every day. They know it's important to make time for recovery. If you're doing strength training, you should rest the muscles you worked for approximately 48 hours. That allows them to heal and recover. When you work a muscle intensely, it tears the muscles down by making small micro tears. During recovery, scar tissue forms to heal those tears and make the muscles bigger and stronger.

If you don't take time for recovery it can stop or reverse progress.

You need recovery for bigger muscles. If you continue working out intensely every day, it will continue to tear down muscle tissue, never giving it a chance to heal completely. Recovery also replenishes energy stores so you aren't running on fumes in the gym. That doesn't mean you can't exercise for 48-72 hours. It just means you can't exercise the same muscle group intensely. To avoid that problem, some people do upper body strength training one day, core training another, and lower body strength training a third day.

There is short-term recovery and long-term.

Within hours after working out, the recovery process begins. It starts even sooner if you eat a pre-workout and post-workout snack. It can also start as soon as the cool-down exercises. That's when changes start in your muscles. It's when the body replenishes sources of energy and fluids. It's also why a post-workout snack containing protein and carbohydrates can help. The protein provides the building blocks for the muscles and the carbs refuel the body's energy supply. This phase of recovery lasts until the micro-tears heal. This type of recovery occurs after every workout. Long-term recovery is necessary after injury or overworking muscles.

Recovery doesn't mean you should go to bed or skip the gym.

You can work different muscle groups to help muscles recover. You can do other types of exercise. If you're strength-building, doing cardio and flexibility training on recovery days is one option. You can also do recovery exercises. That's a mild exercise that boosts circulation to stimulate healing. It can be swimming, walking, or any easy exercise that keeps you moving but isn't intense.

  • Lack of recovery time can cause mental issues like depression, diminished fitness, high blood pressure, rapid resting heart rate, and poor sleep quality. It can reduce your immunity and make accidents more likely.
  • Get adequate sleep when you're exercising. When you sleep, the body heals. It's particularly vital if you have an intense training schedule. If you're trying to lose weight, it helps you do that quicker.
  • Changing your workout throughout the week is beneficial for recovery if you're working different muscle groups. It also helps prevent plateauing. The muscles don't become efficient at the movements and burn fewer calories.
  • If you don't take time to let muscles heal, it could cause an injury that will keep you out of the gym longer. You want to push yourself to get results but not so much that you don't heal.

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