Fitness Tips - Exercise While Traveling

How do you stay fit while on the road? Lots of people travel for work, or even vacation regularly. The best way to get your workouts in on the road is to stay at a hotel that has a workout room. (Even better is when you actually use it!) If there is no workout room, it is possible to do a full body workout in your own hotel room. Here is what it looks like:

Push ups: 3 sets x 10-15 reps

Floor crunches: 3 sets x 20 reps

Body weight squats: 3 sets x 20 reps (or jump squats for increased intensity)

Body weight lunges: 3 sets x 15-20 reps (or jump lunges for increased intensity)

Superman back extensions: 10 reps with 5 seconds rest

Planks: for 1 min. x 3 sets

You can do this with minimal rest, in a circuit fashion, one exercise after the other, or you can do each exercise 3 sets at a time with one minute rest in between sets.

Keep your fitness a priority even when you are away! When you return to your regular schedule, it won’t take you as long to get back on track with your optimal shape.

Remember to make YOU a Priority in 2009!

Fitness Tip - Injury Treatment

A few tips back we talked about types of injuries, ways to strengthen weak areas, and how we work around them. What about actually dealing with the injury itself? Let’s just be clear that we are talking acute injuries or injuries that happen suddenly from activity. Chronic injuries need more intense treatment.

I’m sure everyone is familiar with the acronym R.I.C.E. This stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. It is the common and recognized standard practice for recovering from acute training/sport injuries. Let’s look at each component.

REST – This is hard for some people and too easy for others. For someone who is trying to improve their fitness, coming to a complete stop for a week or two may not be a good idea. There are plenty of ways to work around the injury by focusing on other movements. Key point: Rest the injured area but stay moderately active. Also, really make a point of getting enough sleep. Sleep is where the body repairs itself and grows stronger.

ICE – Icing the injury keeps the inflammation and swelling down. This helps draw blood away from the area and improves healing time. This is necessary when the injury first occurs. There are several ways to ice. Using an ice pack, frozen popcorn or peas (Duncan’s favorite), or a total ice bath for the brave souls. Try not to ice for more than 15-20 minutes at time without a 10 minute break. After the swelling is down, then you can apply heat to the area. Moist heat brings blood to the area which brings healing nutrients to the injury.

COMPRESSION- Compression to the injured area slows speeds healing by reducing the inflammation. Compression decreases pain of the injury. The best way to compress an area is to wrap it with sports tape or and ace bandage. Throbbing may signify that the bandage is too tight, so loosen it just enough so it is firm, yet not constricting.

ELEVATION- This also keeps swelling to a minimum. It is most effective to elevate an injured area above the heart. If you have a sprained ankle, while laying down, propping your foot up with a couple of pillows will work.

Once the swelling is down and the injury has had a chance to heal, your trainer can begin to slowly work in exercises, stretching positions to strengthen and retain the effected area.

There is one more grain of rice that we should mention.

Anti-inflammatories - Acetaminophen, Naproxen, and Ibuprofen are all common anti-inflammatory medications. These medications, if used wisely, for a short period of time will really help put the fire out, and reduce the pain so you can stay active. What’s the best? Usually the one that you can take without upsetting your stomach or affecting you adversely in some way. It takes time for the medication to build in your system, so make sure you stick to the dosage schedule even though you might be feeling better.

Fitness Tip - Active Lifestyle

Tis’ the season for gardening, long walks with the dog, and spring cleaning. How do these activities fit in with my exercise program? Does walking the dog count as my cardio workout? How about cleaning out the garage? Pulling those weeds out of the yard is definitely a workout!

The good news is these are considered to be daily activities and adds significantly to an active lifestyle. The bad news is, they are NOT considered to be strength training or cardio workouts. The main reason is in the intensity and duration of each activity.

Although walking along the beach burns calories, generally speaking for most people, the heart rate does not get high enough or last long enough to increase your cardiovascular endurance. If you are looking for significant changes in your fitness level and body composition, the intensity needs to be increased and your heart rate must be maintained at a higher level for at least 20 minutes or more.

The other aspect is your body adapts to everything you do. It will get used to doing the same loop around the park, which may have been challenging at first, but a month later your body adapts and starts to burn less and less calories. For increasing your fitness level and weight loss, that is a killer.

What people notice when they start a weight training program or increase the intensity of their cardio workout, is that they can do their daily activities with greater ease. Chasing the kids around is a little less exhausting, lower backs don’t ache after gardening, and walking the dog turns into a run in the park.

Don’t get me wrong, an active lifestyle is the way to go! Taking the stairs and parking at the far end of a parking lot keeps you moving and living. But don’t confuse these activities with the work it takes during a real workout that can lead to big changes in your strength, endurance, and body composition.

Remember to make YOU a priority in 2009!

Fitness Tip - Top 10 Nutrition Tips

The down and dirty Top 10 Tips of Good Nutrition!

1. Eat breakfast.

2. Drink water. Lots of it.

3. Eat a serving of lean protein (chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef/pork/buffalo) at every meal.

4. Try to get most of your carbohydrate from fresh vegetables and fruit.

5. Healthy fats (nuts, avocado, olive oil) are good for you

6. Eat protein and carbohydrate together. Always together.

7. Read nutrition labels.

8. AVOID SUGAR! Especially anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Again read nutrition labels.

9. Eat something every 3 hours.

10. Plan your meals.

Remember to make YOU a priority in 2009!

Fitness Tips - Tracking Your Progress

Most people like to judge their fitness progress in a couple of ways. Do I feel better? Do my skinny jeans fit? Do I like what the scale says?

Those are important things, but remember, there are many ways to track progress in regards to your overall fitness levels. How do you know when you have increased your fitness level? At Fitness Together, one of the first things we do is a comprehensive fitness evaluation. We track your weight, body measurements, body fat, blood pressure, resting heart rate, lung capacity, upper body endurance, flexibility, and oxygen efficiency. As you progress through your training program, your body changes in more ways than you may realize. Most clients are pleased to see improvement in metrics other than scale weight.

Fitness evaluations are not the only way we measure progress. Your trainer records each workout with weight lifted and repetitions accomplished. Changes reflect an increase in your strength and endurance levels. We have also mentioned the benefits of tracking your food intake on our on-line tracking system. These ways are all measurements that reflect the clients various goals.

Sometimes the numbers don’t change. This information is just as good as when they do change. It means something needs improvement and needs to change. Tracking also gives you a target to aim for. The more focused the path the easier and faster it can be to get there.

Remember to make YOU a Priority in 2009!

Fitness Tip - Working Out With Injuries

Working out with injuries can be challenging and frustrating. Here are some things to think about if you get an injury and how to avoid them in the future.

Types of Injuries

There are 2 types of injuries that occur “acute” or “chronic.”

Acute injuries, such as a sprained ankle or strained muscle may occur suddenly during activity.

Chronic injuries usually result from overusing one area of the body while playing a sport, exercising over a long period, or a repetitive motion. Examples of this may include carpel tunnel syndrome from daily computer use or a knee injury from marathon training.

What Should I Do If I Suffer An Injury?

Whether an injury is acute or chronic, there is never a good reason to try and "work through" the pain of an injury. When you have pain from a particular movement or activity, STOP! Continuing the activity only causes further harm. It’s best to lay off exercise from the upper body if there is a shoulder injury, but instead focus on the lower body to keep your fitness levels up while you are recovering.

If the inflammation subsides, doing non-weight baring range of motion exercises will bring blood flow to injured area. This helps with repair and breaks up the scar tissue which creates stiffness in the joint.

Injury Prevention

Due to the fragile design of our joints, there are 3 TOP Common Injuries:

Rotator cuff - Strengthening the tiny muscles that support the shoulder joint is key to reducing shoulder injuries

Lower back - Core strength and hamstring flexibility is so important for lower back pain.

Knee injuries - Along with wearing good shoes, strengthening all the muscles around the knee joint will help with the proper tracking and stabilization of the knee joint

Doing exercise with the proper form always reduces your risk of injury. Stretching and strengthening your muscles will help support the body to repair and prevent injury. Make sure you drink plenty of water so your body is hydrated. If you don’t drink enough water, your body will take moisture out of the tissues which leave your body prone to injury. And lastly, utilize a personal trainer to keep that well trained eye on your technique.

Fitness Tip - Exercise Frequency

How much exercise you need depends on many factors.

The Surgeon General says:

“It is recommended that Americans accumulate at least 30 minutes (adults) or 60 minutes (children) of moderate physical activity most days of the week. Even greater amounts of physical activity may be necessary for the prevention of weight gain, for weight loss, or for sustaining weight loss.”

For weight control or weight loss, we recommend:

Strength Training: At Least 3 times per week for 30 - 60 minutes a day.

Cardiovascular Training: 3 – 6 times per week with vigorous activity 20 - 60 minutes a day.

Flexibility Training: As much as possible during the week (e.g. Add 10 min or more to the end of your cardio or strength training routine to stretch or attend a yoga class each week).

When it comes to weight loss or weight control, more is not necessarily better. Try to focus on intensity rather than long hours at the gym. Intensity will improve your overall fitness level as well as boost your metabolism for fat burning.

Luckily a little bit of exercise goes a long way for disease prevention! When it comes to exercise we think Nike says it best –“Just Do It!”

Remember to make YOU a priority in 2009!

Fitness Tip - THE #1 way to Lose Weight!

Sounds like an Ad for something right?

Wrong! The #1 way people lose weight is by writing down your food intake on a DAILY basis! Sounds simple? We know this isn’t easy, but it’s proven to work. Studies show that people who track their diets daily are 10 times more likely to lose weight than people who don't.

Tracking your diet keeps your food intake at the forefront of your mind. Being aware of what you put in your mouth and how much you take in, can make or break your weight loss success.

It doesn't matter if you write it on a scrap of paper or track it on a fancy computer system; just as long as you do it consistently throughout the day.

Make sure you write down your meals right after you eat. If you wait to track what you eat until the end of the day or even the next day, people tend to get "calorie amnesia." They forget about the piece of cheese they had with lunch or the latte they had during their break. They may forget to write it down in their journals, but unfortunately the body never forgets!

The next step is to show your journal to your personal trainer. This accountability is INVALUABLE! Just doing this can influence your decisions for many meals ahead. Sounds like a lot of work? We didn't say it was easy, but it is definitely well worth the effort. Remember, this is your health we are talking about! Start tracking today, then watch your food choices change as well as your body!

Remember to make you a priority in 2009!