Top 7 reasons to exercise

The Top 7 Reasons to Exercise


Summer has arrived and along with it the dreaded bathing suit season.



Whether you can't wait to bare it all on the beach, or if you're still working toward a weight loss goal, exercise is the key to looking and feeling great in summer months.



But why else should you exercise? Here are the top 7 reasons to exercise this summer:



Reason #1: To Melt Fat Away



The most coveted side effect of exercise is, of course, fat burn. The combination of a challenging exercise routine and a balanced meal plan is the best known way to lose fat. Here's what losing fat feels like:



•Your pants become loose

•People around you begin to say that you look great

•A glance at yourself in the mirror makes you smile

•Your energy levels soar

•You feel amazing

Reason #2: To Alleviate Pain



Regular exercise is a great way to alleviate chronic muscle and joint pain. Persistent back pain can be lessened by strengthening your core, and you’ll protect yourself against injury. It amazes people when the chronic pain that they’ve lived with for years begins to fade after starting a regular exercise program.



Reason #3: To Increase Lean Tissue



More muscle is good for many reasons. You see, muscle requires many more calories each day than fatty tissue. In fact, one pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories each day at rest - compared to a measly 9 calories per pound of fat.



When you exercise your body composition will change to contain more lean tissue, thus resulting in extra calories burned while you sleep. What could be better than that?



Reason #4: To Stay Young

Tim D. Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College in London, led a study on the effects of exercise on aging. The results were astounding. They found that exercise appears to slow the shriveling of the protective tips on bundles of genes inside cells (called telomeres), which means a slowing of the aging process.



"These data suggest that the act of exercising may actually protect the body against the aging process," said Spector.



Here's the study in a nutshell:



•Telomeres cap the ends of chromosomes and every time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter.

•Once a telomere gets too short, that cell can no longer divide.

•Aging occurs as more and more cells reach the end of their telomeres and die. This results in weakened muscles, skin wrinkles, loss of eyesight and hearing, organ failure and slowed metal functioning.

•The study analyzed the telomeres from the white bloods cells of twins over a 10-year period. Telomere length was used as a marker for the rate of biological aging.

•It was found that the length of telomeres was directly related to that twin's activity level. "There was a gradient," Spector said. "As the amount of exercise increased, the telomere length increased."

•People who did 100 minutes of weekly exercise had telomeres that looked like those from someone about 5-6 years younger than those who did 16 minutes of exercise each week.

•People who did 3 hours of vigorous exercise each week had telomeres that looked like those from someone about 9 years younger.

Reason #5: To Prevent or Control Type 2 Diabetes



Regular exercise helps to stabilize blood sugar levels. This is something that people with type 2 diabetes, or at risk for type 2 diabete, gain substantial benefits from.



Exercise improves the body's use of insulin, and the related weight loss improves insulin sensitivity. Of course patients with type 2 diabetes need to get guidelines from their doctor before starting an exercise program.



Reason #6: To Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels



Exercise has shown to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels for these two reasons:



•Weak Heart Muscles pump little blood with lots of effort. By exercising you strengthen your heart muscles and train them to pump more blood with less effort. The stronger your heart is the less pressure will be exerted on your arteries.

•Exercise Increases HDL levels in some people - this means a decrease in your risk for heart disease. Other heart disease risk factors such as weight, diabetes and high blood pressure all show improvement with regular exercise.

Reason #7: To Feel Great



The first thing that clients tell me after starting an exercise program is how much better they feel.



Most didn't even realize how bad they felt. It is easy to get used to feeling sluggish, achy and unmotivated.



Exercise boosts your energy levels and makes you feel amazing.



The quickest, easiest way to guarantee that you'll meet your fitness and weight loss goals is to work one-on-one with a qualified fitness professional. You'll be held accountable with your workouts and you'll be instructed properly and shown techniques and strategies that will expedite your results.



Call or email today to get started on a program that will take the guesswork out of fitness and to set your results on fire.



What are you waiting for? Lace up your shoes and get moving!



Your Reason

Your number one reason for exercise is unique to you. Maybe you want to fit into a smaller pant size or lower your cholesterol. Or maybe you just love how a good workout makes you feel.



Whatever your reason is, remind yourself of it often. Write it down and place it where you will see it everyday. It may be just the motivation that you needed

Pre/post workout meal tips from Yvonne

Hey everybody!




Yvonne here. This will be my first blog entry and I'm thrilled to contribute to getting people excited about leading healthy lifestyles.

Lately, a lot of my friends have been asking me "What should I eat before and after my workout?"



Does it really matter what you eat before you go to the gym? Does it matter when you eat it?



The answer is: yes, it matters. It affects your performance during training and it affects your results afterward.



Your body needs the energy necessary to perform the exercises in your workout program. No fuel, no energy. Makes sense, right? Now don't go and have a casserole hotdish before you hit the gym. With a large meal like that, your stomach and bowels will be competing for blood flow and energy with your muscles, which can give you an upset stomach and inhibit the results you want to get. If you don't eat anything you might get low blood sugar, lack mental sharpness and might feel faint during exercising. What to do?





Before: According to Jackie Berning, RD, a sports nutritionist at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, "It takes the body four to six hours to digest fat, about three hours to digest protein and about two hours to digest carbohydrates." So you can have a full meal 4-3 hrs before your workout. About 60-30min before, have a snack; if you don't have time to get a good snack and you're short on time (like in an early morning workout), then opt for some Gatorade or an energy bar 15min before you workout. The body's main fuel source is carbohydrate which is stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen. Ideally you would want to eat something high in carbohydrates that can be easily absorbed, to have adequate glycogen stores. Avoid high fiber foods and foods with high fat content right before, which take longer to digest and might make you bloated and upset your digestive system.



After: Eating after your workout is important for recovery. Shoot for 15-45 min after you exercise. "If you delay refueling, you slow carb replenishment by 50 percent and protein repair by 80 percent", according to John Ivy, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas and the author of Nutrient Timing.



Protein provides necessary amino acids to repair muscle tissue that is damaged during intense exercise. You are not really going for chicken and eggs here, but something that can be absorbed quickly, which preferrably is a protein shake. Liquid will be used much faster, whereas complete proteins take time to digest. You could also eat a protein bar, because those are easily digested as well.



Carbs are just as important after exercise. You want to restore glycogen - if you don't do this by eating carbs, your body will do this by tapping into your muscles. And that is not what you are looking to do. Stick to simple carbs, because just like the protein, you want fast absorption. So wild rice or other complex carbs are probably not a good option in this case. Here are some examples you could try: Yogurt with fruit, PB&J, Bagel with Cream Cheese, Chocolate Banana Milk Shake. The general guideline is 0.15-0.25 gr of protein/pound of your body weight.



The bottom line is: there are certain things that are better than others right before and after your workout. You will find out by trial and error which ones works for you, give you the most energy and the best performance.



Signing off for today. Now go hit the gym!

Are you really living?

Hi Everyone, My name is Chris G and I’ve been working with Erik on and off for a few years. The On and Off part is due to my involvement in the military. I’ve been over seas and gone for different training events that have taken a bit of my time to say the least. Looking back on all that time, I’ve been awakened to the fact that we only have one life and that one life should be spent doing what we were put on this earth to do. Everybody has a different path and everybody finds a different way of getting there. I’m a true believer of “everything happens for a reason.” A few near death experiences will convince anyone of that, believe me. Just last week I came across an article and it got me thinking again. Live your life to fullest and never waste time. People like to say that they are killing time. "Oh, I'm at the mall, you know… Just killing time." It doesn't work that way. Time kills you. There are 28,251 days in the average human lifespan. What you do with them is up to you, but when the clock strikes midnight on that final day you no longer have any input. All you can do is look back on what you've done and the story you've written with your actions. Was it what you wanted? If no, why not? Now look back on what you've been doing with your days. How many hours of television did you watch last week? Or how many hours did you spend in front of a computer screen? Ever think about counting it? Kind of an uncomfortable thought, huh? What about that time you spend each day commuting to work; sitting in that same seat, driving the same route, cursing at the same intersections? All that time you spend preoccupied while you’re with your kids, friends or maybe that one person that you’ve chosen to love. Does that time spent with them really matter when all you’re really focused on is worrying about your mortgage, or bills or an issue plaguing you? Consider the path you’re on and total up the days again. How many of them were really lived well? Get up and do something. Achieve that thing that scares you, or at least fail while daring greatly. Love someone completely, take that trip that you’ve been putting off and actually say what you think for once. At the end of the day, when you step in the shower and watch the mud, blood and sweat wash down the drain, you’ll know that you can go to sleep with another day in the victory column. Seriously don’t waste it, because we’ve all experienced or heard about a story of someone dieing completely out of the blue. Sickness, Cancer, Car Accident, you name it, we’ve all heard it. It could be you, but could you say, you’ve lived a great life? Could You? Then prove it everyday!