Strength training is a necessary component of a well-rounded exercise program. For some, however, strutting into the weight room can be a little intimidating. The good news is there are many options to fit anyone’s needs. Incorporating strength training into your exercise routine will provide countless benefits. For starters, it’ll target the big muscles that power you throughout the day, making normal activities easier and less taxing. These muscles will protect your body from unpredictable movements such as slips and falls. As a functional chiropractor, I focus on evaluating and treating overuse injuries. Strength training is a necessary component of this process, but it’s often overlooked or actively ignored, even by the most health-conscious people out there. Here are the most common concerns that I hear from patients who don’t strength train, and why you should throw the excuses out the window and add it into your routine: To read more click here!
Michelle Spindler
How to Drink, Have Fun AND Lose Weight
If you’re serious about losing weight or maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you may think you have to go into “strict diet mode” and cut out alcohol completely. So, you reluctantly trade happy hours for nights in front of the TV. After all, it’s the only surefire way to drop pounds, right? Wrong. “If you enjoy social drinking, there’s no reason to abstain from alcohol just because you are on a diet,” says registered dietician Tanya Zuckerbrot, M.S., RD, and creator of the best-selling “The F-Factor Diet.” “In fact, depriving yourself can set you back far more than a glass of wine ever could.” So if you want to grab a drink, go for it. Here are 10 ways you can imbibe without derailing your diet. To read more click here!
21 Sit Up Variations You Won’t Totally Hate
Sure, crunches and sit-ups can be monotonous, and they likely remind you of elementary-school gym class. But they don’t have to be so boring. There are plenty of variations you can incorporate into your strength-training routine that target the muscles that make up your abs. Standard crunches work your rectus abdominis (front part of your abs), while side crunches recruit more from your obliques and reverse crunches target those hard-to-work lower abdominals. Even though doing endless crunches and sit-ups won’t get you those six-pack abs you’ve always wanted, they’re certainly one piece of the puzzle. And by switching up the variations, you can make sure that you’re never bored with your ab routine again. To read more click here!
9 Ways To Make Your Workout Suck Less
If you’re dragging your butt to the gym with a classic case of the I-don’t-wannas every time you work out, you’re probably not being consistent with your exercise routine. Why? You dread it. You’re counting down the minutes until you can pack up and leave. You might even think that you hate working out. You’re not alone. Many exercisers, especially new ones, can relate. But I refuse to accept that you hate working out. The truth is that you just haven’t found a way to make it fun. Exercise shouldn’t be a hassle or a punishment. It should be a release. Your workouts should be the best part of your day. Try any of the 9 tips below tips to add joy to your sweat sessions and release those endorphins. To read more click here!
FLOOR MODEL SALE!
We are starting our floor model sale! Have you ever wanted to get into a new piece of equipment with the full manufacturer’s warranty at a discounted price? Now is the perfect time to invest! We are offering a 15% discount on most of our floor models… exclusion are: Keiser spin bike, concept 2 rowers, Landice treadmills. This means that all of our Hoist, Precor, Octane, Tuff Stuff etc etc etc are available to you at a discounted price! Come in today to check out all of our deals. Once they are gone, the floor model sale will not start again until next year. Do not let this opportunity pass you by!
7 Tips For Strong, Defined Abs
In my nearly 20 years in health and fitness, I’ve often come across the same question: “I workout everyday, but I still have belly fat … why?” Despite what we think, it’s simply not enough to workout daily or just eat healthy food. Of course that’s all very important for your health, but when it comes to great abs, there are several other crucial factors that can’t be avoided. Here are seven things you should do and pay attention to in order to get a flat, defined, strong and healthy mid-section this summer: To read more click here!
Why Your Workout Leaves You So Hungry You Could Eat a Horse!
Funny tees with sayings like “I run for pizza” or “I run because I really like beer” goofily sum up the way many of us think about the relationship between food and exercise. Who among us hasn’t pictured the delicious snack waiting for us after a killer workout, for example? But what happens when our exercise routines cause us to consistently overeat? Many of us typically associate a regular fitness practice with healthier eating choices and maybe even a svelte physique, but the relationship between working out and overeating has both biological and psychological roots that may surprise you. To read more click here!
45 Compelling Reasons to Eat Right and Exercise… That Don’t Have to Do With Weight Loss
If the latest infomercials and magazine covers are any indication, it seems like weight loss is on everyone’s minds these days. And while a healthy weight is a good goal, when it comes to eating right and exercising, it shouldn’t be the sole focus. In fact, when you tally all the reasons to eat well and exercise, we’re not even sure it should make the top 10. Face it: The number on the scale is not a reliable indicator of overall health. Even worse, according to one study, people who diet or exercise just to lose weight quit a lot sooner than people who make healthy changes for other reasons . Oh, and they really don’t lose weight in the long term. The researchers found that the most successful motivation for sticking to a healthy lifestyle was “feeling better about themselves” for women and “better health” for men. To read more click here!
Do Calorie Monitors Really Work?
Calorie monitors may be the necessary motivation to keep on truckin’ through a tough cardio workout. Seeing the number increase as you show the pavement, a kettlebell, or whatever else that you’re the boss feels rewarding and might add to the post-workout high caused by endorphins. Yet popular as fitness trackers have become since someone invented the first calorie counter in 1977, they may not be the right tool to help you reach your workout goals. To read more click here!
The Ultimate Beginner’s Full Body Workout
What, you ponder, do you have in common with bodybuilding greats like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jay Cutler, or even with a successful fitness model like Whitney Reid? Each of those men, like you, had modest beginnings. None was born with six-pack abs and none came into this world with a 250-pound bench press. But like you, they had a desire for self-improvement and undertook resistance training as a means to build up their physique. All of these men committed serious mistakes along the way, but fortunately we’ve compiled a summary of the 10 most important training elements so that you, as a beginner, can learn from others’ errors. To get you started off right, we’ve also put together an eight-week full-body beginner’s program that’s built to challenge you as you get stronger. After that break-in period, you’ll have one more thing in common with those superstars: None of you will be a rank beginner any longer. To read more click here!
The 4 Most Effective Ways to Burn Fat
Getting ripped isn’t a walk in the park. If you want to get so lean your abs have veins, you’re going to have to increase the intensity of your workouts far beyond the normal level. That doesn’t mean running from one exercise to the other like a chicken with its head cut off. It means implementing workouts that have been proven to be effective for helping you improve your athletic performance, increase your metabolism, and burn lots of fat. As it turns out, getting shredded doesn’t require complicated training plans. The most effective workouts are actually pretty simple in their design; they just require you to bring the heat. If you want insane results, you’re going to have to get a little insane in the gym. You’re going to have to push yourself far beyond what you think is possible. In other words, to get abs, you need to have guts. If your mental game is strong, these four fat-torching workout protocols will deliver. Try them all, and implement your favorite into your weekly training regimen. Enter the #freakmode. To read more click here!
31 Arnold Approved Training Tips
Long before he was paid $25 million for his movie roles, Arnold Schwarzenegger penned monthly articles for bodybuilding godfather Joe Weider’s muscle magazines. Arnold’s writing didn’t win any journalism awards, but he later collected his ideas and training philosophies in his best-selling “The New Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding,” which is still used as a reference tool by bodybuilders today. Perusing Arnold’s signature tome requires some effort: The hardback version comes in at an even 800 pages, after all! While it’s hefty weight might make it a nice addition to your coffee table, the nuggets of training gold take a little work to find. In the interest of mining the best knowledge from one of the strongest minds in bodybuilding, here are 31 Arnold-approved training tips to help you build your best body ever! To read more click here!