Remember how everyone tells you that the most important meal of the day is breakfast? You have to get your body off to the right start. It’s important to fuel your “tank” before you start your day and hit the ground running.
Similarly, warming up before a workout is just like eating breakfast in the morning. It is very important to warm up and get your body’s core temperature to rise in order to improve mobility and flexibility. Warming up helps you visualize the workout, sport, or other physical activity before you begin your full-on routine. Warming up helps prevent injuries and reduce tightness. It’s important to gradually start your body off on the right foot. Warming up helps you visualize the workout, sport, or other physical activity before you begin your full-on routine.
So, before you meet up with your personal trainer, start playing a sport, or hit the gym… remember to stop and warm up and stretch a little before you hit the ground running.
How many times have you heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but you just don’t have the time to fit it in? For some people, it might be hard to get in that essential meal right after you’ve woken up and the day starts moving…fast. So, what is the next step after that?
Fast Food.
Obviously fast food doesn’t necessarily have the healthiest connotation linked to it. However, CNN posted a great article about some of the best, healthiest, and tastiest grab-n-go breakfast options. Check out CNN’s website for more details!
For those of you that can’t or don’t like going to the gym, here’s a work out plan for you. The work out plan below is designed for you to do in the comfort of your own home. Now you can get in shape, stay fit, and exercise without even leaving your house.
All you need for this work out routine is a pair of dumb bells and a flat bench. However, if you don’t have either of these, a great alternative would be something in your house that you could use instead. For example, instead of dumbbells… grab a can of soup or a bag of rice. If you don’t have a flat bench, you can lie on your coffee table or just lie on the floor.
Exercises
If you have a fully blown home gym, you will have more options with regards to the exercises you perform. However, if you don’t, there are still many exercises you can perform, either by modifying the exercise slightly, or by using assistance from a bench, exercise ball, wall or other object. If you’re serious about your home workouts, you really need at least some basic fitness equipment.
Note that if your aim is for strength or muscle size, you really need a full set of weights so that you can progressively increase your weights over time.
Where there are more than 3 exercises, choose 2 or 3 for each muscle group that you’re exercising that day. Every now and then, for some variation, swap one exercise for another. Variation is great in any workout routine.
Dumbbell Flyes – 3 sets of 12 (requires dumbbells and a bench)
Shoulders
These exercises require weights. If you don’t have any weights, don’t worry because you will actually get a pretty good shoulder workout when you do the chest exercises – especially the press ups.
Upright Rows – 3 sets of 12 (requires barbell or dumbbells)
Parallel Bar Dips – 3 sets of 12 (requires parallel bar or similar)
Narrow Arm Press Ups or, if you have a bench and barbell, Close Grip Bench Presses – 3 sets of 12
Dumbell Triceps Extensions – 3 sets of 12 (requires dumbbell)
Legs
Lunges and squats are also great for the buttocks.
Lunges – 3 sets of 12 (you can do these holding dumbells at your sides if you wish)
Squats – 3 sets of 12 (squats are normally performed with a barbell on your back but you can do these holding dumbbells at your sides – “dumbbell squats”)
Front Leg Raises – 3 sets of 12 (if you find these too easy try using ankle weights)
Note: If your aim is for strength or muscle size, decrease the reps to between 6 – 8 (except for the Ab exercises – keep them the same, but add resistance).
Are you getting older and can’t remember the little things in life like where you left your keys or what you had for dinner the night before? Good news… Did you know that a moderate amount of exercise actually stimulates part of the brain that is connected with memory retention? This can help you improve your mental thought process and decrease the amount of those “Senior Moments” and make them become few and far between!
If anything, when done properly (slowly and using a complete range of motion), weight training increases flexibility. Many athletes engage in weight training in order to improve their performance in their chosen sport, track athletes, basketball players, gymnasts the list goes on and on. This lie might have been fueled from the feeling of ‘tightness’ that accompanies an intense workout. If the workout was intense and a sufficient number of muscle fibers were recruited and microscopically damaged, then even the normal tonus (the normal amount of contraction experienced by a relaxed muscle) is more than enough to cause a feeling of pain and tightness. The tightness is compounded by the ‘tugging’ of the tendons on the muscles. Stretching, however, would do much to alleviate this tightness, and stretching is a recommended part of any athletic pursuit. I hope that this small amount of information motivates you enough to give me a call and set up a free consultation. It will be the best decision you could make for both you and your family. I still can’t believe or understand why people think of personal trainers as being a luxury.
Do you think about taking your car to a mechanic as an option when it’s breaking down? Or do you decline a doctor when he says you have to take medication for an illness? Of course you don’t! So what are you waiting for? An illness! A break down! I personally hate sitting in a doctor’s office wondering if I’m going to get the bad news so I’m going to do everything I can to prevent that trip while I can. The choice is yours.
