Tag Archive for: healthy lifestyle

Nutritionist Long Beach CA

Workout Motivation: How Supplements Can Help

/in , ,

You’re all set. You are stoked to get your workout started. You work out for a few days and then you lose motivation. What happened to the plans for that fit, six-pack abs and rippling muscles? It is easy to become discouraged or even lack inspiration especially during the early days of one’s workout plan.

In the end, you have to make exercising and getting fit a habit so that you don’t feel like it is a chore. The initial days of burning muscles and sore backs can definitely hurt, nevertheless with a few useful tips, you’ll be able to remain focused.

Straightforward Motivational Methods

Remaining motivated isn’t easy. Most people battle with it because it is so easy to miss a workout or put it off until the following day. However, it’s possible to mentally boost your inspiration levels.

Work together with an equally devoted partner. Don’t let one another down. Get a lifting partner equally as determined, or maybe more so, than you are.

Give yourself rewards as you go. Rewards shouldn’t be things which yank you back, though. A giant, fatty meal isn’t the route to take. Rather, take a day off, find tickets to a sports event or purchase something for yourself when you accomplish a goal.

Mix things up. Don’t try doing an identical routine and workout plan each day. You’ll get bored even if you are elevating reps or pounds. Repetition may bring you down quickly. You’re basically bored.

The psychological steps you take to raise your enthusiasm are crucial. You need to tell yourself it can be done. You have to provide yourself with stimulation to keep going, even if that means listening to motivational tapes!

Nutritional Supplements Will Help

There are actually supplements which can help you to ultimately stay motivated. While you will not likely discover a specific supplement available on the market for motivation, you will discover other supplements that can improve your state of mind.

Make certain you are taking the best post-workout supplements. The right supplements and protein levels following a workout will decrease the painful burn you experience the very next day. It is challenging to stay motivated while you are really hurting from a rigorous workout.

Look for natural supplements that give a boost to energy levels. Unless you possess the right energy levels, you can easily find yourself struggling to remain on top of your workout. Supplements including Asian ginseng, bitter orange, caffeine, and capsaicin, will provide you with the boost of energy you require in a healthy way.

Consider supplements to help you to get enough rest. Sleep is definitely the body’s method of restoring and healing itself. If you don’t get enough proper sleep, try taking supplements that can help. Valerian, Kava, and melatonin are among the best options available.

The most significant supplements for motivation for the muscle builder are the types that encourage muscle growth. There isn’t anything more motivational than seeing your muscles grow and develop and seeing the numbers on those weights increase. If you’d like to build motivation, give your body the nutrients it needs to build muscles fast enough.

With proper nutrition, the body can accomplish everything you want to accomplish. However, you have to take the steps to stay motivated. After you make working out a routine, you’ll feel great about it and will want to do it. Keep your motivation levels up in the meantime.

Nutritionist Long Beach CA

4 Workout Motivation Tips

/in , ,

Sometimes, you just don’t want to work out. Well, use these tips to provide workout motivation next time you are having trouble getting motivated to workout.

Here are some workout motivation tips!!

1) Change things up.

This is the easiest way to get motivated to workout. Just do something completely different from what you’re doing now. For example, if you do total body workouts, try doing an upper/lower split, or vice versa. If you’re doing bodybuilding splits, then change to total body workouts.

Another example: train in a different rep range. If you train in the typical 8-12 rep range, try lifting in the 5-6 range for a change of pace (no, ladies, this will not make you big and bulky). If you do primarily dumbbell and barbell exercises, switch to a bodyweight only workout. The key here is to completely change your routine. Get creative if you want, just come up with something that gets you excited and motivated to work out again.

2) Set a goal.

This is my favorite method for finding workout motivation. As an example, you could set a date to compete in a local powerlifting event, race, or other competition. Maybe you want to run faster, jump higher, lift a certain amount of weight. Just set a performance goal, set a deadline, and schedule your training accordingly. Having an end goal in mind is a great way to keep you motivated and excited to get into the gym.

3) Workout with a partner.

If you train alone, you may want to find someone to workout with. Warning: train with someone who will be consistent and is positive and encouraging. The last thing you want to do is get a workout partner who is constantly negative or will make excuses not to go to the gym on a consistent basis. A great workout partner can encourage you, motivate you, provide social support, and help push you to improve your performance.

4) Hire a personal trainer.

Some people simply won’t go to the gym unless they know they are paying someone who will be waiting on them. That is one of the main reasons people hire me. Warning: do your homework before hiring a trainer. Most trainers don’t truly know what they’re doing. Ask questions about their experience, certifications, and ask for client referrals. If they are hesitant to give you any information, walk away and save your time and money.

Oh, one more thing. Here’s an easy test: tell them you are interested in losing fat quickly. If they recommend anything other than a total body or upper/lower split (and they tell you to do a lot of long, slow cardio), they don’t have a clue what they are doing. Get away . . . fast.

Nutritionist Long Beach CA

Workout Motivation

/in , ,

How do we find the motivation to exercise? At the end of the day when that big fluffy couch seems to be calling your name and nothing looks more appealing, what is it that keeps us on track and motivated?

What Motivates Me To Workout

The question came up today how do I motivate the individual and I started thinking about how do I motivate myself. Everyone is different and everyone needs motivation served to them on a different platter. What motivates one doesn’t necessarily motivate the next. Some people need constant encouragement, others need a kick in the ass while some need to be told specifically what to do.

There are literally hundreds of different ways to motivate yourself to exercise and I will give you a few examples of what has worked for me. Even I struggle sometimes to keep going but the most effective way to keep motivated for me is having a workout partner. Having that buddy on the same page as you challenging you to push hard and keep going always motivates me. I have had some great workout partners in the past and I miss training with them.

Writing down my program and keeping track of it is also a great method for me. I track my results and week by week I check to see my improvements, and hey what better motivation is there then seeing results.

Caloric expenditure is one that has worked for me in the past as well. I know that you read tons of weight loss articles and they say don’t count calories. Well, how are you going to get the proper amount of calories you need and burn the proper amount without keeping track? Knowing what I need to burn in the day pushes me that extra little bit or keeps me on track so I don’t expend too much.

Simple enjoyment out of exercise and having fun will keep anyone going. I wish I could workout with everyone I train all day every day. If it wasn’t for the fact that it takes away my concentration on the individual I would love to work out with them all. Having fun doing a group or boot camp class has always been motivating for me. Lately, I have been riding my new mountain bike and I love it. Doing something that keeps you moving while you are having fun can’t be bad for you.

Magazines and the models inside have been an inspiration in the past for me. Sure Photoshop works some wonders and they are usually a couple of days out from contest time but hey working hard to be that fit and having a goal is a great motivation.

Internet articles, blogs, books any type of information and reading material is interesting for me and gets me to try new things or methods and different exercises. Sometimes reading what others have done and their success stories are very inspirational.

Setting goals and when you reach them to reward yourself. It’s always nice to get to a goal and it’s even nicer to know that you are getting something for your hard work. I like to get some sort of little reward for every goal I achieve. Set your goals and set your rewards and get them often.

Keeping my “lean clothes” around makes me work hard to fit into them and want to look good. With looking good comes feeling good and having those outfits I feel stellar in keeps me on track.

Stress relief is a great motivator for me. Some days I need to blow off some steam and putting some old classic tunes on my iPod and just tearing it up in the gym really clears my mind and drains the stress from my body and mind.

Clearing my head while I have been riding my bike has worked great as well. Again it’s stress relief buy it really gives me time to think about other things and maybe just take in some scenery.

A couple of other motivators that may work for you could be signing up for a 5 or 10 km race, not feeling bad from missing workouts, extending your life expectancy and being able to run and play with your grandkids one day. Weighing yourself and keep measurements. Not every day but once a week, trust me as you see the numbers going down you will be motivated.

However, you chose to motivate yourself whether it be from taking those measurements, logging your workouts or reading motivational quotes, the feeling you get once you have reached a goal and people are noticing is priceless. Make and set your goals so they are achievable and realistic. You will reach them as long as you work at it and there is no better reward than feeling great and looking great and having others notice.

What Motivates you? I’d love to know…

Nutritionist Long Beach CA

Common Mistakes Most People Make When Working Out

/in , ,

If you want to learn about 3 major dumb mistakes people make when working out, then you’ll want to read this article. Specifically, I’ll discuss how people are wrongly expecting instant results, unproductive inconsistency, and erroneously missing the diet equation.

After reading this article, you should be able to see better workout results and more importantly, have increased workout motivation.

Most people who are starting to workout have an illusion of grandeur, wanting to look like supermodels in a week’s time. This is one of the mistakes people make, thinking that working out for a couple of hours for a few days should make them lose at least a third of their weight. This is too much of an expectation that not even God can perform a miracle. Dumb mistake number one, don’t expect instant results! Miracles do happen but not on weight issues, these you need to work hard for. Set attainable goals and work hard for each goal. Plan each step, each activity and make sure you follow your plans or this will lead you to mistake number two.

You have been sticking to your workout – getting in shape, doing more push-ups, gradually increasing running speed – until after one week you lose your workout motivation and decide to skip a day or two. Guess what? Unproductive inconsistency will pull you back in your workout and might cause it to fail. Another dumb mistake, stop being inconsistent! Stick to your routine no matter how heavy a rainy day it is or you will pay the price. Don’t expect good results when you know you have been skipping workouts.

The third dumb mistake people make when working out is missing the most important part – eating right. It is never enough to just exercise without eating healthy foods. Stick to what you know is right for your workout. Don’t tire yourself for 3 hours in the gym then eat a heavy and sinful dinner afterward. You may be working out consistently but at the same time consistently pigging out on pizzas and buckets of ice cream as well. Dumb mistake number three, don’t forget your diet!

Following a Dietician’s expert advice on what kind of diet to take coupled with good, consistent workouts will give out the best results. Remember, don’t make dumb mistakes such as expecting instant results, being inconsistent, and forgetting your diet. These will surely set you up for a failed workout. Avoid these mistakes and you’re sure to notice fewer pounds, fewer inches, and more workout motivation.

Functional Fitness

What Can Functional Fitness Do For You?

/in , ,

Functional fitness is a type of work out that concentrates specifically on training your body to cope with real-life situations using real-life body mechanics. This revolutionary technique takes fitness to a whole new level by combining multiple muscle groups and joint movements to work together rather than isolating them to function separately.

Working out on the machines is terrific; however, the machines don’t prepare you for everyday life. A patient, Laura came to me after a back injury and said, “I don’t understand, I went to the gym 3 times a week and felt much stronger, yet when I went on my trip and had to carry my suitcase by myself, I hurt my back. How could that be? That’s because exercising on a machine and performing functional exercise is quite different. Here’s why…

What is functional fitness

EXAMPLE OF FUNCTIONAL FITNESS EXERCISE:

Tricep extensions performed with dumbbells on a bench is a functional fitness exercise. A seated tricep extension performed on a machine is not. Exercises performed on either a bench or without the use of machines integrates muscles of the back, shoulders, arms, and legs to stabilize your body making the exercise dynamic, meaning your body is in motion. When comparing this dynamic exercise to an occupational therapist bending over to transfer a patient, or a person putting away groceries, they are similar because both functional activities require the person to use a variety of muscles.

However, if you do a seated tricep extension on a machine that isolates the tricep muscle, guess what is doing the work? The machine does most of the work and that movement doesn’t mimic real-life activities. Because in real life, when you’re carrying suitcases, bending over to retrieve something, reaching into your closet, you don’t just use one muscle group to perform functional activities.

That’s why you can train at the gym for months and even years on the machine and one day you go to put groceries in the car and ouch – you strained your back!

Machine-based exercises also limit your range of motion and therefore don’t allow your body full range of movement that is required of you when doing day to day activities.

In this tough economy there is a multitude of reasons for you to incorporate functional fitness into your exercise routine:

Benefits Include:

  • No expensive equipment.
  • Decrease back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain
  • Decrease risk of injury o Enhance joint mobility
  • Keeps you doing all the things you love and need to do
  • Can be done by virtually anyone, regardless of fitness level
Functional Fitness

How Functional Fitness Benefits Seniors

/in , ,

Functional fitness is all about teaching your body to handle real-life activities. It is a way of exercising that helps your body be strong in those areas that the body needs to be strong in your everyday life. This type of fitness can benefit anyone but can benefit seniors perhaps more than others.

The Idea Of Functional Fitness For Seniors

Functional Fitness for Seniors

Functional fitness involves putting your body through the paces that are necessary for everyday life. As a senior, you can lift weights or use a weight lifting machine to strengthen certain muscles of your body to the exclusion of others and may find that you are strengthening certain muscles, which leaves a deficiency in others.

Without functional fitness, you can strengthen your arms in a biceps machine but still throw out your neck when reaching for something out of your reach or throw out your back while lifting your grandchild.

Seniors especially make the mistake of exercising their arms or legs in ways that may strengthen those muscles but avoid exercising their back, for example. This can lead to back trouble that could have been avoided if you had recognized that your arms and legs are intricately connected to your back and are useless without a strong core.

As a senior, you need to use all your muscles and joints in concert with one another and not just isolating out certain muscles to the exclusion of others.

Helping Your Muscles Work Together

Many seniors make the mistake of using weight machines or free weights while at the gym. They are isolating out certain muscle groups for strengthening, strengthening some muscles more than others. They may believe that to have a good biceps bulge is a sign of good health when their triceps muscles are not exercised at all. This means that the muscles cannot work together to do the everyday lifting and stretching that needs to be done as part of your regular day.

Everyday movement is not idealized. You don’t lift or move things by isolating out your muscle groups and in fact, it takes a strong back, strong legs, and strong-arm muscles to move a box or carry groceries. If you isolate out a muscle group to the exclusion of all others, you can set yourself up for injury to those muscles you have neglected.

How To Make Functional Exercise Work For You

Functional exercise is all about integration of muscle parts. It is about showing the muscles how to work together to accomplish a task rather than isolating muscle groups that may be exercised out of proportion to the rest of your muscles.

If you like rowing machines, for example, think about the posture you are in when you do that exercise. Your back is stiff and your arms are bent repeatedly with your legs doing very little. This strengthens some muscles and not others.

A better activity is to use a free weight standing up. First, you bend over and strengthen your back in picking up the weight. Then you strengthen your legs by holding the weight with your entire body. Finally, put the weight in various motions around your body so that your latissimus dorsi muscles are activated, along with your biceps and triceps muscles. Even the small muscles of your hands are strengthened by holding the weight.

All your muscles are working in concert by that simple exercise. If you repeat it on the other side of your body, the muscles of your back, sides, legs, and arms are exercised for the other side of your body and you haven’t missed any muscles in the process.

This type of exercise better mimics the regular activities you do every day and you will have fewer injuries because your muscles have learned to work in concert.

Balance And Control

Functional exercise is all about using your body to balance yourself while having control over your muscles. For seniors, it may mean skipping lifting weights completely and instead of working on things like squats and lunges that use all your muscles and help your balance. You don’t need bulging biceps to have good functional use of your body.

Can you stand on one foot for any amount of time without falling?

If you have questions about functional exercise, talk to a trainer about those exercises that will best mimic those things you are doing in everyday life. It is a different way to exercise that will keep you balanced, strong, and free of injury.

What You Need To Know About The DASH Diet

/in , ,

The foods we eat can affect our overall health. A diet rich in harmful elements like saturated fats and cholesterol is a sure way to hypertension and other diseases. On the other hand, the right choice of foods can lessen your risk of acquiring such diseases.

There is a particular eating plan that has been proven to lower hypertension or high blood pressure. This diet is called the DASH or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

What is the DASH Diet

What is the DASH diet?

The DASH diet is a result of clinical studies conducted by scientists of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The researchers found out that a diet high in potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and fiber, and low in fat and cholesterol can drastically reduce high blood pressure.

The study showed that a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and low-fat dairy products had a big effect in reducing hypertension. It also showed that the DASH diet produces fast results, sometimes in as little as two weeks after starting the diet.

The DASH diet also emphasizes three important nutrients: magnesium, calcium, and potassium. These minerals are thought to help reduce high blood pressure. A normal 2,000-calorie diet contains 500 milligrams of magnesium, 4.7 grams of potassium and 1.2 grams of calcium.

Doing the DASH Diet

Following the DASH diet is very easy and takes little time in the choice and preparation of meals. Foods rich in fats and cholesterol are avoided. The dieter is advised to eat as many vegetables, fruits, and cereals as possible.

Since the foods you eat in a DASH diet are high in fiber content, it is recommended that you slowly increase your consumption of fiber-rich food to avoid diarrhea and other digestive problems. You can gradually increase your fiber intake by eating an additional serving of fruits and vegetables in every meal.

Grains are also good sources of fiber, as well as the B-complex vitamins and minerals. Whole grains, whole wheat pieces of bread, bran, wheat germ, and low-fat breakfast cereals are some of the grain products you can eat to increase your fiber consumption.

You can choose the food you eat by looking at the product labels of processed and packaged foods. Look for foods that are low in fat, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. Meats, chocolates, chips and fast foods are the main sources of fat and cholesterol, so you should reduce your consumption of these foods.

If you decide to eat meat, limit your consumption to only six ounces a day, which is similar in size to a deck of cards. You can also eat more vegetables, cereals, pasta, and beans in your meat dishes. Low-fat milk or skim milk is also a great source of protein without excess fat and cholesterol.

For snacks, you can try canned or dried fruits, as well as fresh ones. There are also healthy snack options for those on the DASH diet such as graham crackers, unsalted nuts, and low-fat yogurt.

It’s Easy to DASH

The DASH diet is popular among many health buffs because it doesn’t require any special meals and recipes. There are no special preparations and calorie-counting to be considered as long as consume more fruits and vegetables and reduce your intake of fat- and cholesterol-rich foods. The DASH diet is a healthy eating plan that focuses more on the three important minerals that are believed to have a beneficial effect on high blood pressure.

The DASH diet is great for people who prefer convenience and ease in their eating plans. With scientific evidence to back it up, the DASH diet offers a proven and tested diet system for people looking for good health.

Functional Fitness

A Guide to Achieving Functional Fitness

/in , ,

Ever wondered why sometimes even the people who seem extremely healthy and physically fit backslide at performing an everyday task as small as lifting a toddler? The reason behind such anomalies is a lack of functional fitness.

Functional training deals with exercises and movements that help individuals cope with their daily life routines. Simply put, functional fitness exercises help you to perform some daily chores such as carrying groceries or walking up the staircase to the best of your ability without incurring an injury.

Benefits of functional fitness

As mentioned above, physical fitness and functional fitness cannot be used synonymously. Physical fitness does increase the chances of fitness but in no way guarantees it. This is why we sometimes see very well trained athletes succumbing to minor injuries after performing some day-to-day task.

The cross-co-ordination of the various joint and muscles in our daily routine requires us to undergo proper training in order to ensure that we are up to par in our everyday lives.

The emphasis of functional training is to develop the core muscles in order to help you optimize your daily productivity. These include the abdominal and lower back muscles. Whether you are a housewife or a busy professional with a sedentary lifestyle, some basic fitness exercises are all you need to make the most out of your day.

Where conventional weight training is about isolating the different muscles, functional training, on the other hand, is about the integration of various muscles to ensure their synchronization while performing a task that involves cross-muscular co-ordination.

Since our everyday routine involves the use of various joints and muscles, training exercises focus on improving multi-joint co-ordination. Keeping this in view, a functional fitness exercise might involve the elbows, spine, and shoulders altogether instead of just focusing on one joint or muscle.

When one embarks on the quest of fitness, he is simply expected to stand on his own feet in order to develop the capacity and control to carry his own body weight adequately. The subsequent stage involves moving on to some conventional weight training techniques.

Therefore, initial training exercises involve the one-legged squat followed by balancing oneself on tiptoes. Once mastery in these basic exercises is achieved, only then can a person move on to advanced exercises.

Remember, if you want to optimize your day’s productivity and stay fit, start your functional training right away! It will provide you long-term benefits that very few other methods offer.

The Famous Dash Diet

/in , ,

No, we are not talking about some famous Hollywood sisters. The DASH diet or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is a physician recommended, researched and used diet to help lower blood pressure in two weeks.

Today, one out of four Americans (approximately 73 million people) exhibit high blood pressure or hypertension. Blood pressure is the pressure within the artery walls. Hypertension can be defined as a consistent blood pressure elevation. High blood pressure causes the heart to work harder and is the leading cause of heart attack and stroke. Diminishing sodium intake and eating healthy can help you reduce your chances of acquiring hypertension. This is the premise of the DASH diet.

Information about the dash diet

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute conducted two studies about this diet. Their findings showed that blood pressure was reduced with a diet low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and total fat and high in fruits and vegetables, fat-free milk products, whole grains, fish, poultry and nuts.

As you can see, more food products are allowed in this diet compared to other commercial diets available. They also recommend diminished, not eliminated, amounts of lean red meat, sweets, added sugars, and sugar-containing beverages. Foodies will not have a hard time adjusting to this diet since it does not completely eliminate common foods in the American pantry.

In the DASH Diet plan, there are recipes and diet plans suggested for a 2,300 mg and 1,500 mg sodium consumption. About 2,300 mg of sodium is recommended by both the National High Blood Pressure Education Program and the United States Dietary Guidelines. And unlike most short term diet plans, the DASH diet also offers tips on how to stay focused on the diet. Think long term.

Although weight loss is not a priority, it is a welcomed consequence since the DASH diet is based on a 2000 calorie per day limit. Some tips on how to further reduce sodium in your diet include:

Read food labels.

  • You will be surprised how much sodium can be found in low fat or processed foods.
  • No extra salt, please. It is typical for us to add a “dash” of salt when boiling pasta or rice.
  • Discover other spices or herbs to replace salt in your usual recipes.

As a tip, a teaspoon of table salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium.

It is also best to do this change gradually, since you may experience some detoxification reactions like loss of appetite that may stop you from going through with this diet strategy. Adding some physical exercise and getting appropriate medical supervision is also beneficial.

In conclusion, there are a lot of nutritious but appetizing foods available in the market today. The DASH diet allows a lot of leg room, and its long term benefit is a longer, healthy life. And so, why not try a little DASH in your diet today?

Functional Fitness

Functional Fitness Training Helps You Lose Weight Fast

/in , ,

The true goal of fitness is to improve the health of individuals and the community. The fitness industry is just beginning to play a credible, integral role in health-care reform, including the way it serves the sedentary and/or aging population.

What is Functional Fitness?

Benefits of Functional Fitness

The term functional fitness is applied to a simple exercise plan that is designed to improve health, increase the ability to perform the activities of daily living, enhance the quality of life and prolong physical independence.

Functional fitness is everyday training for health, good posture and muscle balance. The purpose of functional fitness is to train muscles to perform their specific functions in daily activities at peak performance. A functional fitness plan includes cardiovascular and strength training to maintain a healthy body. A well designed functional fitness plan can complement the activities that a person already is doing in life, and does not require joining a workout facility.

Functional fitness helps people reach goals such as reduced blood pressure, increased range of body motion, and improved self-esteem. For sedentary individuals, achievable benefits from a functional fitness program include the ability to get up from a sofa, to carry suitcases on vacation, to climb stairs, and to reduce the pain experienced from life’s movements.

Most people shun exercise because of the amount of time they think it takes. You know it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes per day to live a healthy lifestyle.

Functional fitness programs do not waste time on exercises that are not needed. Besides some specific exercises performed to improve the specific needs, most of the exercise in a functional fitness program is moderate intensity physical activity accumulated during the day, such as walking instead of driving, physical activity instead of TV, and household tasks are done with a minimum of labor-saving devices.

A Simple Functional Fitness Routine

Let me give you a simple training routine. Everyone these days have stationary bikes. Use them in my method.

  • Fast paced cycling for 1 minute
  • Rest for 10 seconds
  • Fast paced cycling and so on.

Do this for at least 10 rounds of cycling. You’ll lose all your extra flab in this 12 minutes a day workout. This will build your cardiovascular, help you lose weight, be more active and energetic in day to day life. All you need is 12 minutes of your busy time.