Get Strong!

Lifting weights yields benefits far beyond strong muscles. Pushing your body hard during a workout will inspire and motivate all areas of your life. GO WORKOUT!

Reaching goals in the gym, motivates you to reach goals in your daily life. You’ll dream big!

Feeling strong is empowering. You’ll be inspired!

Having a strong body builds body confidence and self esteem. You’ll feel good.

Pushing through a tough workout will strengthen your mind. Ideas and solutions will come to mind.

Committing to finish a workout reminds you how strong and capable you are! You can do anything you set your mind to.

Get Strong!

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Don’t underestimate exercise machines in the gym!

With the wave of functional fitness so popular, exercise machines can get lost, but they still hold value. What and how you work out should be determined by goals and ability. Consider your options, all your options, and a great option for you may just be exercise machines! Exercise machines provide guided range of motion in the tracking design of the machine. This means if you’re unable to stabilize your body position, the machine helps. If you like the option of different programming, routes and resistance, machines are a great choice. And if you’re wanting to isolate one part of your body, machines offer that option.

Should You Revisit Exercise Machines?

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Slow down your weight training. Add pauses to reduce momentum!

When lifting weights, pause at the top of the range of motion and pause at the bottom of the range of motion. Adding in one to two second pauses reduces momentum during weight training. Reducing momentum means your muscles work harder instead of bouncing or swinging through your routine.

*Consult your physician before performing exercise.

Control your weight training!

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Increase your weights!

Have you been lifting the same weights for months on end, or for even longer? Increase your weights to challenge your muscles! If the muscles are not stimulated or overloaded, there will not be a strength gain. Do a rep check during your next workout. If your goal is strength improvements and you’re regularly and easily cranking out 12 reps, increase your weight on the next set. Go to the next weight available and begin with 8 reps in good form. And remember, you can lift a different amount of weight on each set. Your muscles want to be challenged!

Increase your weights!

Incorporate a Stability Ball into your Workout!

Exercising on a stability ball adds a challenge to your core muscles. Here are your safety considerations:

To find the correct size: Sit on the ball. Your thighs should be parallel to the floor, or your hips should be an inch or two above your knees.

Don’t leave the ball in the sun, or use on a sharp uneven surface.

Use the ball on a non-skid floor.

Do the exercise first without weight or load to determine your ability to get into and out of the position safely.

The ball should be held stable and not be used to bounce while lifting weights.

Incorporate a Stability Ball

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Row for improved posture!

A Standing Row is an effective strength exercise for your upper and middle back. Strong back muscles mean better posture! Here’s how to start:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Hold a weight in each hand. Bend forward from your hips. Keep your spine aligned, and shoulders back and down. Begin with both arms straight. Bend both elbows and pull the weights straight up to your waist. Slowly lower the weights back down to your starting position. Begin with 10 reps.

*Consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Straighten Up Your Posture

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Pushups for total body fitness!

Do pushups for total body strength and fitness. Core, upper body and lower body are all under constant tension to perform a pushup properly. Do pushups with your hands on a step, bench or the floor. Your legs can be straight with your whole body up off the floor, or place your knees on the floor to reduce abdominal muscle tension. Despite requiring no additional equipment, performing pushups properly calls for practice and awareness. Be mindful not to adapt two commonly seen compensating patterns:

Don’t hunch your shoulders! Keep your shoulders away from your ears. Drop your chin to your chest to keep your neck aligned with your spine.

Don’t sag in the middle. Pull your belly button up to your spine. Keep your leg muscles tight with your hips in line between your shoulders and your hips.

*Consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Pushups= Total Body Strength

Ab Tuck and Crunch

If you’re looking to challenge your abs, try this move. Begin lying flat on the floor, next lift up your upper body with your arms in front of you for balance. Then, lift both legs up off the floor to your starting pike position. Next, exhale and pull both knees into your chest while stabilizing your torso in the incline position. Inhale and return to your staring pike position. Repeat 10 times.

*Consult your physician before performing exercise. This exercise is for those without injury concerns.

Ab Tuck and Crunch

3 Workout Etiquette Reminders

Your workout is exactly that, YOUR workout.  Pick up after yourself and clean up your area when done . Here are 3 etiquette reminders next time you’re at the gym:

Rack your weights! Please take your weights off the bars, off the machines and up off of the floor when done. Place them on their proper rack, so others don’t risk injury lifting weights that are too heavy just to clean up your mess.

Take turns! Allow another exerciser to “work in” a set on your rest interval if possible. If you notice someone waiting, please offer a work-in set to make the best use of everyone’s time.

Put equipment back where it belongs. Wandering around the gym floor looking for equipment is a waste of time. Please return equipment like safety collars, different attachments and rack pads to their proper place.

3 Reminders for your Next Workout

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Combine moves for function!

Combine traditional strength training exercises to improve function. For example, perform a Squat immediately into a Bicep Curl, following the strength pattern needed to pick something up off the floor and carry. Perform a Squat with Shoulder Press, which mimics the pattern of picking an item up off of the floor and placing on a shelf overhead. Look at the movement patterns you’re required to perform during the day and then train for those patterns in the gym.

*Consult your physician before beginning exercise.

Combo Exercises