Get Fit Quick Tip:

Be Smart with your Fitness!

Pain means stop. Pain has a very different feeling than muscle fatigue or muscle burn. Muscle fatigue is acceptable, joint pain is not. Don’t work into pain.

Dizziness should not be a part of your workout. Dizziness can be a signal that your body is not meeting its oxygen demands and intensity is too high. Decrease intensity.

Use muscles, not momentum. Swinging weights around uses momentum, not muscles. Momentum is where injuries happen. Ideally, you should be able to control the entire range of motion to overload the muscles adequately. Control the exercise for best results.

Be Smart with your Fitness

Commit to your fitness each week by joining #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat every Monday at 5pmP/8pmE On Twitter!

A journey to fitness will take dedication, commitment and resolve. However, you will never regret your effort. You’ll look better, feel better and function better through your daily activities. You’ll be able to lift, carry and have the energy to accomplish whatever the day brings. So if you’ve had any doubt about getting fit and healthy, don’t! Every workout, set and rep IS worth your time and effort.

Recommit to your fitness every Monday at #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat!

Here’s how to join:

Log into your Twitter account.

Enter #HealthyWayMag to follow the chat feed.

Participate by offering your answers to the questions posed for conversation. Question 1 noted as “Q1″, provide your Answer 1, noted as “A1.” Tagging your answers with #HealthyWayMag allows everyone to interact together.

Chat with others, pick up fitness tips, have fun!

Monday March 14, 2016 #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat is Sponsored by Knuckle Lights:

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Commit to your Fitness!

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Respect your rest!

Rest days are essential to all fitness programs. In fact, rest/recovery days should be programmed IN to your workout schedule to allow for muscle recovery and mental rejuvenation.

Here’s why you should respect your rest day:

Makes workouts sustainable. Sufficient rest means you’ll have renewed energy to log the next hard workout.

Reduce risk of injury. Rest days allow your body time to rebuild and recover.

Refresh mental focus. Rest days give your mind time to process your workout and the mental focus required.

Maintains interest. Taking a day off from your key activity decreases risk of burnout.

Need a Rest Day?

Take your fitness to the next level…

Join #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat every Monday at 5pm(Pacific)/8pm(Eastern) on Twitter. Pick up exercise tips, workout ideas and your weekly fitness motivation.

How does a Twitter Chat work?

1. Log onto Twitter.

2. Enter hashtag #HealthyWayMag.

3. Follow along with our conversation about all aspects of fitness.

4. Interact with fellow fitness-enthusiasts. During our Question and Answer discussion, you’ll learn about new exercise methods, top gear and best practices for success. Your motivation will soar!

5. Enjoy fitness friends, accountability and FUN!

Monday July 6, 2015 #HealthyWayMag Fitness Chat Sponsored by SaltStick:

Do you know that replacing electrolytes lost during a tough workout is key for top fitness performance? If you race, participate in community events or organized athletics, having an electrolyte replacement plan in place is essential. Enter SaltStick! Reduce muscle cramping and fatigue that results from electrolyte imbalance by adding SaltStick Caps into your training regime. SaltStick Caps enable you to beat the heat and the body stress that comes with max workouts in hot and humid conditions. And with their patented, cutting edge and user-friendly salt tab dispensers, you can easily carry SaltStick Caps with you while cycling, running, hiking or the like. And for more of a competitive edge check out their SaltStick Mini, weighing in at only 12g. Making SaltStick your new training may just mean your fastest workouts are yet to come! Check them out on Twitter @SaltStick , and join their Facebook community for more info!

Take your Fitness to the Next Level!

3 Surprising Reasons You Should Be Working Out Regularly

It’s common knowledge that working out can help you lose weight and reduce your risk of disease. Physical activity also increases strength and energy levels. It can help alleviate depression, boredom, and stress.

The benefits of exercise extend to everything from your mood to your digestive health but I bet you didn’t know about these 3 surprising reasons you should be working out regularly.

Controlled Blood Sugar

Exercise is a great tool in controlling blood sugar levels, which can be exceptionally helpful for people struggling with diabetes, hypoglycemia, and other blood sugar related illnesses.

Exercise makes your heart beat faster which causes muscles to use more glucose, the sugar in your blood stream. Over time, this lowers overall blood sugar levels.  Cardio, like brisk walking, jogging, or stairs, incorporated into a weekly fitness routine keeps blood sugar levels in a healthy range.

Lose Weight Without Losing Bone Density

A study done at Washington University found that dieters who didn’t work out lost bone density, while exercisers did not. A regular fitness routine can help you lose weight without sacrificing done density.

Weight-bearing exercise forces bones to adapt to the pull and weight of muscles by building more bone cells. This increase in bone cells results in improved strength and bone density, which in turn decreases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Weight-bearing exercises, such as weight lifting, jogging, and dancing, are excellent for maintaining and increasing bone density.

Enhance Your Immune System

When you workout, your temperature rises. This higher body temperature makes it challenging for certain infectious organisms to survive. Working out will also speed up the rate that antibodies flow through your blood stream. This increase results in higher immunity against common illnesses.

A 30-minute walk once a day is enough to speed up the flow of antibodies in your system and help you ward off illnesses, like the common cold.

Amanda is a Boulder-based Health Coach, fitness enthusiast, avid trail-runner, and aspiring physician with a passion for integrative health. Her goal is to motivate women to live inspiring and healthy lives and create a revolution in how people think about their health. Her passion is encouraging others to take care of their bodies with exercise, healthy behaviors, and nutritious foods. Get inspired to live fit and connect with Amanda on her blog, via Facebook and Twitter.

Do you know about these surprising benefits of exercise? By Amanda Miarecki

What’s the solution?
Here are my five must-try exercises to try at your next visit to the gym. They require little or no equipment, recruit every major muscle group and will give you a short, sharp effective workout without having to wait for any machine! (As always, be sure to obtain clearance from your physician before beginning this or any exercise regime.)

1: Pivot Clock Lunge
Alternative to: regular cardio warm up
Good for: warming up entire body three-dimensionally
Keeping one foot static, pivot the other foot forwards and backwards into a lunge. Repeat in every direction (as if you were lunging to each opposite number on a clock face) before swapping feet.

2: 3D Press Ups
Alternative to: regular press ups/chest press machine
Good for: core, chest, arms
Perform a regular press up (either full or on knees) but keep changing your hand position on each rep: wide, narrow, one hand forward, one hand behind…

3: Wide to Narrow Squats (with/without dumbbells)
Alternative to: leg press, squat rack
Good for: lower body, core, cardio
Perform a regular squat and jump your feet together as you straighten up. Squat again before jumping your feet to wide again.

4: One-legged shoulder press (with/without dumbbells)
Alternative to: shoulder press machine, sit ups
Good for: shoulders, core, balance/proprioception
Set your core and balance on one foot. Reach one arm at a time up. To hit all muscles of your shoulder and challenge your core further, keep changing the direction in which you are reaching: out to the side, across the body…

5: Air Jack Burpees
Alternative to: a long time on any cardio machine!
Good for: fat-burning cardio
Perform a regular burpee but once your feet have jumped towards your chest, perform an air jack: a star jump but off the ground. If this is too intense, try a regular star jump!

You are now armed with a new gym plan that means: no waiting around for machines, every minute spent in the gym will be effective, a fat-burning workout that can be done in minute intervals or a circuit (try 3 rounds of 15 reps of exercises 2-4), and a happier and less frustrated you!

Gen Levrant is a Faster Health and Fitness certified Personal Trainer and Advanced Functional Training Specialist. She operates out of a private studio in Southampton, UK. For more info please visit http://www.fasterpt.com/personaltrainer/personal-training-south-west/faster-personal-training-southampton/southampton-gen-levrant/. You can reach Gen via email at Gen@fasterpt.com visit her Facebook page or follow her on Twitter @PTGen

5 Must-Try Exercises at the Gym by Gen Levrant