Compound Exercises

Compound exercises are helpful if your fitness goals are to gain strength, lose weight, and become more athletic or to simply get in shape within a short range of time.  Anyone can perform these exercises and they can be personalized for your level of fitness and enhanced to ensure progression towards your fitness goals.

Compound exercises are exercises with or without resistance that combine multiple muscle groups to complete a movement within a natural range of motion.  Utilizing multiple muscles throughout your body at once allows you to maximize the amount of energy exerted in a shorter amount of time.  This can shorten up your fitness routine as well as increase the amount of calories burned.  Compound exercises make your fitness plan feasible due to your daily schedule.  Completing exercises that combine muscle groups take more energy to execute so you are likely to increase your heart rate faster than performing isolated of single muscle group exercises.  Compound exercises not only target large muscle groups but also activate smaller muscles.  This changes an isolated resistance training routine into a total body workout.

Compound exercises can be executed in the gym, at home, at work, or outside.  You can count the repetitions and sets of these exercises like a normal isolated resistance training exercise.  You may need to take longer rest periods in between sets for recovery.  The duration of a workout with compound exercises should be no more than an hour.  You can exhaust all the energy you have in a short amount of time.  In progressing through a plan take less rest between sets, increase the resistance, and/ or increase your range of motion.  This will increase intensity as well as your strength, cardiovascular endurance, and metabolism.  Compound exercises are similar to real life activities and will be beneficial while you are not working out.  Performing compound exercises will keep you looking and feeling good forever while also improving your all around strength, balance and coordination.

The Power of Digestive Enzymes!



In formulating a nutritional plan that is going to help you reach whatever fitness goals you have, you must be aware of the enzymes that your body produces to breakdown food.  Digestive enzymes are produced for and used to breakdown foods that we eat so that, during the process of digestion, nutrients can be extracted.  There are several glands along our digestive tract that produce enzymes to breakdown foods.  Glands that produce enzymes to breakdown the chemical bonds of foods are in your mouth, stomach, pancreas, and the small intestines.  These enzymes are essential in the digestion process and enable all cells in our bodies to receive energy needed to sustain life and function properly.  If your body is not able to manufacture and secrete these enzymes efficiently then you will build an intolerance to whatever nutrient that enzymes is used to breakdown.  For instance, people who are lactose intolerant do not produce the digestive enzyme called "lactase" efficiently enough to convert milk sugar or lactose into glucose.  These people receive no nutritional value from milk or dairy because of this and have to avoid drinking whole milk.

Here are 4 Important digestive enzymes manufactured and secreted in your body.

1. Protease helps to digest protein.
2. Amylase helps your body breakdown carbohydrates.
3. Lactase digests milk and other dairy products.
4. Lipase helps to digest fats and oils.

The Big Question:  How do you maintain constant and steady levels of enzymes being manufactured and secreted throughout your entire life?

First you must know that as we age our bodies produce these digestive enzymes at a slower rate.  A lot of people become lactose intolerant at an early age because your body naturally produces lactase more abundantly when you are an infant to digest milk.  Eventually, once you begin to consume more complex carbohydrates, lactase production in your body begins to subside. 




Have you ever have had problems with digesting certain foods? 
Are you not receiving adequate amounts of energy or any other wanted value from the foods you eat?

Here are some tips on how to promote and maintain enzyme production to make sure you are getting what you need out of what you are eating.

1. Avoid overeating so that your body is not forced to constantly over produce chemicals to process energy.  This could lead to digestive enzyme depletion sooner than later.
2. Eat more raw fruits and vegetables.  Raw fruits and vegetables have their own digestive enzymes and limit the amount of enzymes your body has to produce to breakdown and process nutrients. 
3. Avoid cooking fruits and vegetables.  Enzymes can easily be destroyed in foods once there are cooked.  Cooking a vegetable can take alot of value away from your meal.  Eat Fresh!
4. Make sure you chew your food well.  Amaylase and Lipase, which are enzymes produced to breakdown carbohydrates and fat, are secreted through salivary glands in your mouth to help breakdown foods.  A big part of the process of digestion should be done in your mouth.
5. Digestive enzyme supplementation.  For whatever diegestive enzyme you are lacking, supplementation can be done by consuming more natural food enzymes.  Consulting with a physician about any other necessary oral supplements if needed.
6. Eat healthy.  Eating healthy can guarantee that you are receiving the proper nutrients your body need to process energy more smoothly.  Eating unhealthy does play a toll as you age.  The value of a healthy balanced meal plan is worth while and acts as a catalyst for our bodies.  Being consistent with a healthy diet is in direct relation with changing your fluids on time over time on your car.  If you keep it up it will lasts longer!

Here's a link to a site that recommends pineapples as a great source of digestive enzymes.  Enjoy!

http://www.ehow.com/how_6891609_do-lose-weight-unripe-pineapple_.html

 

Insulin For Life Long Health and Wellness



Insulin is a hormone produced in our body to regulate and control blood sugar levels.  Insulin is secreted by the pancreas to supply cells with glucose.  Food that we eat is converted to glucose, which is the main source of energy for our bodies.  Everytime you eat the pancreas must work to secrete enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels from reaching too high and give your cells the energy they need.  High blood sugar levels can damage organs as well as lead to diabetes.  Diabetes occurs when, either your body stops producing insulin or your body builds an intolerance to insulin.  The lack of insulin in the body to supply energy to cells can lead to unconsciousness and even death.  A lack of insulin or an intolerance to insulin in your body is a result of an unhealthy diet and very little exercise.

Here are some tips to help your body produce insulin normally throughout your entire life:

• Never miss breakfast. (spark your insulin in the morning!)
• Eat more frequently smaller meals. (5-6 normal sized portions!)
• Avoid refined sugars and complex carbohydrates. (no processed foods and minimal starches!)
• Exercise your muscles and do cardio regularly.  (Helps to maintain lower blood sugar levels!)
• Drink adequate amounts of water. (6-8glasses a day!)
• Eat according to your activity level.  (A starch is good before exercise but not before bed!) 
• Eat more natural foods like leafy green veggies and low fat meats.  (Your body absorbs it easier!)

Insulin secretion plays a vital role in maintaining normal blood sugar levels.  Your goal, in maintaining lifelong health and wellness, is to maintain normal insulin levels so that your body will never be deprived of this essential hormone.  With strong commitment to a balanced nutritional diet plan, the less likely you are to becoming a diabetic.  Forcing your body to work extra hard to maintain normal blood sugar levels overworks your pancreas.  Your pancreas will stop producing insulin efficiently due to an unhealthy, over-demanding diet.  Insulin is like a key that glucose needs to get inside of a cell.  Without this key your body cannot function properly. 

What Did You Eat Today?

This is a questions that every trainer should ask their client. It is important to incorporate a pre-workout and post-workout meal into your nutritional plan on days that you are training. Never workout on an empty stomach! It is important to eat enough energy that is required for whatever activity you perform. When you do not eat before you workout you are jeopardizing your lean mass and limiting the amount of energy that you will have for your workout. When you force your body to work hard on no energy it finds ways to store energy on it’s own. A fitness plan should be for the purpose of maintain your active tissue which is your muscle, skin, and bones. A car cannot start without gas or oil and it must have the right kind of fuel to run efficiently. As a vehicle is a mechanism, so is your body. It is recommended that you consume a pre-workout meal 30 minutes to 1 hour before you workout and a post-workout meal 30 minutes to 1 hour after to training. A post workout meal is for the purpose of replacing calories lost and restoring energy to restore muscle tissue. It is also important never to miss breakfast.

Not eating proper meals can lead to:

· A plateau
· Unwanted results
· Muscle loss
· Increased body fat
· Weakness & fatigue
· Injuries

The three most important meals of your day should be breakfast, pre-workout, and post-workout meals. With this outlook you will get better result and your nutritional plan and workout routine will compliment each other. You will have more energy, better recovery, and your body will store less fat due to you feeding into your lean mass. Remember, if you do not properly energize your body then your body will energize itself. That is why camels have humps!

Healthy Sleeping!

Are you getting enough sleep at night?  To maintain a healthy lifestyle it is recommended that you get at least 6-8 hours of sleep every night.  Sleeping adequately and consistently leads to a longer life, increased productivity throughout the day, and aids in the overall healing and recovery process.  Your body need to be rejuvenated, especially if you have a very busy schedule.  Getting enough sleep will also ensure that you recover and get results from your fitness routine.  If you are not getting enough sleep at night then you are unable to function at your optimum level.  A lack of sleep, less than 6 hours at night,  can have long term damaging effects on the mind and body.  

Not getting enough sleep at night can cause:
·    Increased risk of heart attack and strokes
·    Weight Gain
·    Increased appetite during the day
·    Stress
·    Problems with focusing and paying attention
·    Muscle loss
·    Depression

Vitamin C to Recover and Heal The Body

It is important to eat products with Vitamin C daily to maintain a healthy body.  Your body needs Vitamin C to build and repair tissue, bones, cartilage and fight off diseases.  Vitamin C is an antioxidant that fights off free radicals or byproducts which are produced when your body converts food to energy.  Free radicals can cause damage to healthy cells while antioxidant block them and make cells stronger.  Vitamin C is water soluble and necessary in your diet daily.  It cannot be stored by the body for later use, so when you deprive yourself you are at greater risk of disease, illness, and injury.  Vitamin C consumption contributes to maintaining and healing every part of the body.  From strengthening your immune system to aiding in muscle recovery after a strenuous workout, this vitamin is proven to be essential in your nutritional plan.  The recommended daily amount of Vitamin C is 60mg or 1 orange.  Avoid exceeding over 2000mg a day because it can cause adverse effects.
Sources of Vitamin C can be found in:

·     Citrus Fruits and juices

·     Kiwi

·     Strawberries

·     Green peppers

·     Kale

·     Spinach

·     Cabbage

·     Broccoli

·     Tomato

TRX Suspension Training

TRX Suspension Training is a style of training that maximizes your efficiency and level of exertion by using your own body weight.  In a little amount of time you are able to complete more exercises and heighten your intensity while combining multiple muscle groups.  These Suspension bands, which would usually hang from an attachment to a ceiling or a wall, can target every muscle group in the body.  Most exercises conducted in TRX training incorporate your core as well as a targeted muscle group.  TRX Training allows you to perform movements along multiple planes.  This training is good to improve balance, total strength and prevent injury.  This training can be used to improve athletic performance in top conditioned athletes or aid in the rehabilitation for a normal person.  

TRX Suspension Training may seem complicated and impossible to execute when you first try it out.  Once you get a hang of one exercise and feel the effects, you will be ready to do more.   There are over a hundred exercises that can be performed in TRX Suspension Training.  To prevent you from getting discouraged, a lack of results, or injury, seek proper instructions from a fitness professional.  TRX Suspension Training will make your fitness goals more attainable while also adding a lot of fun and excitement to your routine.