Find Your Balance
We spend our entire lives trying to keep things in balance – whether it is our checkbook, our diet, or our body. As we age, maintaining physical balance becomes more important to continuing the activities we enjoy. Here are a few tips from Sharp Physiquesto help you find your balance.
Balance is control. Think of a toddler learning to walk and gaining the balance to be able to move freely. Once toddlers learn to balance their bodies, they have better control over their movements. The importance of improving balance doesn’t change as we get older - mastering our balance allows us to maintain control of body movements and prevent injuries or falls. Just like any skill, the more you practice, the better you become.
Develop kinesthetic awareness. This means the ability to know where your body parts are within a three-dimensional space. Balance can be learned, challenged and improved. With a greater sense of your body movement patterns, you can steadily improve your balance.
Use balance-training aids. Balance training aids can help you to improve your core stability, body balance and agility. Try incorporating balance pads, discs, and Bosu Balls into your next workout. Anytime you make the surface underneath you less stable or smaller, you will have to utilize more balance.
Practice balance with your body. Start by balancing on one foot and moving your arms in circles. Can you already do that? Then stand on one foot and try to bend down and pick something up in front of you. Challenge yourself by balancing with your eyes closed – of course, always be cautious of what is around you.
Traditional lunges and squats are also good ways to test and gain your balance, as are core exercises on your balance tools. Balance is a use-it-or-lose-it technique; it’s important to practice balance at all ages.
Should You Exercise When You’re Sick?
If you exercise on a regular basis, you may eventually run into the problem of becoming sick and not knowing if you should continue your workout regimen. Here are a few tips to try out.
Do a neck-check. The standard to follow is called the ‘neck-check.’ If your symptoms are above the neck, like a runny nose or sore throat, then you’re usually okay to exercise. Always listen to your body and take the intensity of your workout down a bit if your regular pace feels too strenuous.
If you are sick below the neck, take a break from exercise. If you have any symptoms below the neck, such as body aches, chills, stomach problems or diarrhea, take it easy until you are feeling better. If you’re running a fever, no matter what your symptoms are, put off exercising until your temperature returns to normal.
You can rev-up exercise when you’re run down. If you’re suffering from congestion or low energy, exercise may help you feel better. A brisk walk can unclog your sinuses better than an afternoon on the couch. And gentle exercise can rev up your circulation to counteract that sluggish, run-down feeling.
Don’t share your sniffles. When exercising in a public setting like a gym, consider your fellow exercisers and think about how contagious you might be before you make your decision to go. If you can’t get through a single set on a weight machine without sneezing or coughing, you are better off staying away from a public gym. Your fellow gym-goers will appreciate it!
Be considerate of others and always wipe down exercise equipment after you use it; always remember to wash your hands after using hand weights and other fitness tools because many other hands have also touched them. Prevention is always the best medicine!
Couple Up For Better Workouts!
Valentine’s Day makes this the month for couples, so why not couple-up your workouts? There are benefits to partnering up with your significant other to get your daily exercise. Sharp Physiques Fitness outlines a few of them here.
You’re more likely to stick with it. If you wake up with the person who is going to turn to you and say, “When are we working out today?” you will be more likely to stick with it. Each day you have an accountable partner to keep you on track and push you a little if you are wavering.
It’s more fun. If you jog with your partner or partner-up for a yoga class, it can be fun to share the experience together. You can enjoy time together while focusing on your health – both are good for your heart!
You can challenge each other. You and your partner can have a friendly competition to keep you both motivated. See who can improve the most throughout a month’s time, or try pushing each other to test out new fitness equipment at the gym.
You can track progress together. Track how often you exercise, what you do and what progress you are making. See if you can improve each week by doing longer or more intense workouts. Consider using a tracking program like the Life Fitness Virtual Trainer App or the Nike+ Fule Band to help you share workouts with your partner, and improve together.
Coupled workouts can translate to healthier habits. If you are both doing the hard work for your physical health, you both will be more likely to eat healthy as well. When only one person in the relationship wants to eat healthy foods, it can make meal-planning a challenge.
If you are both working toward a common goal for health and fitness, it’s more likely that you will both be on the same page when it comes to the nutrition side of the equation.
So partner up and give it a try!
Keep Your Workouts Classy in 2012!
Whether your New Year’s resolution is to lose 10 pounds, or just get healthy, adding a few classes to your workout routine can keep you interested and motivated – the below classes offer targeted, low-impact opportunities to sculpt your body and help you achieve 2012 health goals.
Yoga Class
This ancient practice has become main stream, and more people are enjoying greater flexibility, better posture and overall stress relief because of it. Yoga classes can act as facilitated stretch sessions or simply a way to improve wellbeing and mental health. Explore some of the different types of yoga and see which class appeals to you.
Pilates Class
Pilates involves training the muscles to improve posture and alignment. This exercise heightens body awareness and encourages you to think about how everyday movements are performed. Movements vary from slow and controlled to fast-paced, which improves overall agility, flexibility and strength.
Yogalates Class
Can’t decide if you want to do Yoga or Pilates? Yogalates classes take some of the aspects of both of these disciplines and melds them together for overall general conditioning and balance. You will get the benefits of both the flexibility and stress relief of Yoga coupled with the core strength development of Pilates.
Try incorporating one of the above fitness classes into your 2012 exercise routine and you will begin seeing your body transform in no time!
The Link Between Food and Fitness
Most people know there is a link between food and fitness, but many people don’t realize the full importance of that relationship. If you exercise while you eat whatever you want, or you eat nutritiously without exercise, you likely won’t be getting much healthier and you won’t get the results you are seeking.
Realize exercise and diet are closely linked. You can’t lose weight consistently without healthy food and exercise habits-period. Working out intensely doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want. Too often people overestimate calories burned and underestimate calories consumed. Establishing your “maintenance” number of calories is a good way to help determine how much you should cut back in order to start losing weight.
Keep in mind that not all calories are created equal. Choose your food wisely. What you eat affects how your body moves. Fuel your workouts with healthy carbohydrates and choose quality lean protein after your workouts. On a daily basis, choose whole grains that are minimally processed and protein-rich foods like fish, chicken, nuts, beans and low-fat dairy. And don’t forget about your veggies. Fruit is a nice little snack to have once in awhile, but you don’t need to consume it every day. Keep in mind that most of the calories in fruit are made up of sugar.
Remember that healthy eating and consuming whole, unprocessed foods is not something you do for a limited time; it’s a lifestyle. Make that commitment, and you will find your body transforming before your eyes.
When it comes to fitness, you should combine cardio exercise and strength training to see the best results. While cardio is essential to increase your heart rate up and burn calories, you also need to build and maintain your muscles. Extra muscle = more calorie burning mass.
Having more muscle boosts your metabolism so you burn more calories throughout the day, even while at rest. There are multiple ways to build your muscles, so find one you like: free weights, strength machines, resistance tools, or simply use the weight of your own body-squats, lunges, push-ups, planks and pull-ups.
Your success will depend on the choices you make each day on the two F’s-food and fitness. Make sure you choose both wisely!
A sneak peek at our new facilities
We are very pleased with the way our new facility has come together. Here are a couple of photos taken of the front desk area and men’s locker room to give you an idea of the quality and attention to detail that went into our new fitness center. Keep checking back for more photos and a full gallery on our website. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Strike a balance
Balance is that elusive buzzword that evades most of us in our personal, spiritual, professional and physical lives. In our exercise routines, it’s not only important to find a balance between strength and cardio programs; actual balance training is an important factor that is often neglected.
Follow these tips from the experts at Sharp Physiques to achieve a strong core with proper balance training.
Try starting small, with everyday balance exercises. Stand on one foot for ten seconds without tipping over and then try the other foot. You can even practice these balance tactics while washing the dishes or brushing your teeth!
While at the gym, there is a variety of equipment that will help increase balance, including Bosu balls, stability balls and even some of the strength machines.
With a Bosu ball, you can incorporate weights into the balance program. While standing on the dome, try performing hammer curls to work your biceps or do a set of body weight squats. Try making a bench out of the Bosu ball, grab a barbell and do chest presses. You’ll feel your core stabilizers kick in as you execute these exercises.
The stability ball is also a great way to challenge your core and balance. Sit on top of the ball to do your crunches. Better yet, sit on the ball at your desk for short periods of time throughout the day to improve balance and posture.
In addition, yoga and Pilates classes offer a variety of choices in balance training. Yoga provides balance between the left/right, front/back and mind/body aspects of balance. Try a basic yoga pose like Bird Dog – get on all fours with hands directly under shoulders and knees directly under hips. Extend your left arm straight out, and right leg straight back. Your fingers and toes should be extended and the arm and leg should be parallel to the ground. Breathe deeply and elongate the body. Repeat the exercise with the opposite arm and leg to maintain a balanced stretch.
Pilates also offers effective balance and stability benefits with less impact on the joints. The Spine Twist will help improve flexibility and balance in your core. As you stretch your upper back and the muscles surrounding your ribcage, you will also strengthen the muscles at your waist allowing you to stand taller and achieve greater balance. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and arms extended out from your shoulders with slightly bent elbows. Keeping your hips facing forward, exhale and twist at the waist, then inhale to twist back to start position.
Incorporating some or all of these practices will lead to a more balanced approach your physical health. Come see the exercise experts at Sharp Physiques to get more of these helpful exercises.
Daylight Savings Time
When we change our clocks for daylight savings time, the expression may be, “fall back, spring ahead,” but we shouldn’t let our fitness regimen “fall back.” Follow these tips from Sharp Physiques to squeeze the most out of your day by maximizing every hour.
Use your extra hour to plan. Everyone’s days are 24 hours long, but how we use these hours can make all the difference. Start on the right foot by marking your calendar. If you’ve decided to make your fitness needs a priority, enter your workouts on your daily planner or in your electronic calendar. Record it like you would any other important appointment and you will be more likely to follow through. Build up to 30 or 40 minutes of exercise each day, as this is a sufficient start to a healthy way of living. Many people think that if they don’t have a full hour for the gym, they might as well not go at all. Make your fitness time quality, not quantity. Get in, work hard, get out.
When it’s dark out, head to the gym. Fall is the time of year when it gets darker earlier in the evening and stays darker later in the morning, so it’s the ideal time of year to head to the gym – you aren’t distracted by warm sunny mornings, and kids are occupied with school. Set your alarm and get in an early morning spinning, Pilates or yoga class to get you energized for your day. Or use that extra “dark hour” in the evening for strength training or hitting the treadmill to unwind from your day.
Mix up your workout by heading outdoors. Gone are the sweltering days of summer, so if you are an outdoor person, use the crisp coolness of fall to motivate you to do some refreshing exercise outdoors. Take a morning walk or run to check out the changing colors of fall; do some yard work to prepare for the upcoming winters weather; or clip on a pedometer and hit some of those fall festivals. See if you can accumulate the recommended 10,000 steps per day by adding outdoor activities to your daily steps.
Power up. Use this time of year to renew your resolution to stay (or get) fit. With the holidays around the corner, it’s good to have your momentum going when temptations surface. Your body can be a fat-burning machine just in time for all of those family gatherings. When your fitness regimen becomes a regular routine, you are less likely to get off track. Set yourself up with a habitual programs that you will stick with during the crazy weeks between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
By incorporating these tips, the only thing falling back will be your clock.
Build better bones with exercise
People tend to think of their bones simply as hard structures within the body, but bones are actually living tissue in a constant state of change. The exercise you choose to do or not to do can have a dramatic impact on your bone health.
Bone mass typically peaks in your thirties and slowly declines as you age. The good news is that exercise can actually slow down bone loss. Just like muscle, bones respond to exercise – weight bearing exercises are ideal for strengthening and improving your bone health. Follow these tips from the exercise experts at Sharp Physiques to build better bones.
Weight bearing exercises are cardiovascular activities that use your own body weight as resistance. Doing these exercises puts stress on your bones and in turn, the bone positively responds by getting stronger. Both cardiovascular exercise and resistance training exercise can be weight bearing – treadmills and elliptical cross-trainers are both weight bearing because you are standing, supporting your own weight. Ask a trainer at your gym to suggest a starter program using the treadmill or elliptical cross trainer machines. Other exercises like jogging, stair climbing, aerobic classes, walking, hiking, soccer or tennis are all additional weight bearing cardiovascular exercises that will help strengthen bones.
Strength training is a two-for-one. Strength training builds bone strength and muscle strength at the same time, helping to prevent injuries and fractures in areas of the body often susceptible to fracture like hips, spine and wrists. Exercises that involve free weights, exercise bands and kettle bells are all forms of added resistance that can also enhance stability, balance and coordination. Maintaining flexibility and proper posture will lend to better bone health, so be sure to stretch, or try taking a muscle sculpting, yoga or Pilates class.
Strengthen your bones, even when you’re too busy to hit the gym. Try a few standing lunges, calf raises, tricep dips off a chair or standard push-ups – these are accessible exercise that offer great weight bearing effects using your own body weight as resistance. If you can’t do the traditional push-up, try doing them from a kneeling position or against a wall; and if you want a more intense push-up, walk your feet farther away from the wall.
Most importantly, make sure you get some weight bearing exercise on most days to keep your bones strong.
Don’t Get Spooked by Unfamiliar Machines
The thought of going to a gym can be an intimidating task, especially with the variety of fitness machines available today. However, with a little guidance from the gym staff or a bit of confidence, using fitness equipment doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The most important thing to remember is that everyone is a beginner when they start. Use these tips from the exercise experts at Sharp Physiques and overcome your fear of unknown equipment.
Get the right mind set. If you are using equipment that is new to you, cut yourself some slack. It takes time to learn new equipment and proper technique. Don’t worry about how you look – people are typically so enthralled with their own workouts, they aren’t paying attention to you. Pat yourself on the back for trying something new and soon you won’t be a beginner anymore.
Trainers are there for you. Most fitness centers have a dedicated team of personal trainers and staff to help you. Staff members have customized expertise on the exercise equipment and can walk you through the steps of properly using each machine. From insight into what muscle groups the equipment targets, to proper form and safe usage of the equipment, be sure to ask any questions that you may have.
Equipment is often less scary than it appears. Have you ever procrastinated on a project or deadline because it appeared overwhelming, but once you dived in, it wasn’t as difficult as you thought? Gym equipment is the same way. Some machines appear complicated, but really aren’t. If you slow down and take a look at the diagram featured on the equipment, you will likely be able to figure out how to use it.
Go online. If a piece of gym equipment exists, there’s a tutorial on how to use it. Often times, you can watch short video clips online before heading to the gym. For instance, Life Fitness offers a series of video tutorials to help you make the most of your experience.
Start with baby steps. Some equipment has multiple uses – like the Dual Adjustable Pulley. If you are new to using a machine, simply begin by using it in its most basic form, which is usually outlined on the machine itself. Work your way up to using additional features and handles. Just be sure to ask a fitness professional if you have any questions.
And remember, the sooner you get to the gym, the sooner you’ll scare away your fitness machine fears.
