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Archive for the ‘Fitness Tips’ Category

Workout Wednesday: Interval Training

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , on June 13, 2012 | 4 Comments »

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. You’ve likely heard this saying before and chances are you will hear it again at some point in time or another. However, it doesn’t hurt to throw a little cardiovascular training into this marathon we call life. Interval training has its benefits – they have been studied, marketed and even have made national news headlines. Why? Interval training works.

In a study conducted in the Journal of Physiology, researchers found that 20 minutes of interval training – including 30 second burst followed up with four minutes of recovery – works. This type of training produces the same results of an hour and a half of moderate cardiovascular exercise. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition also reported similar findings. The list of research studies on the effectiveness of interval training goes on and on.

Interval training is great for your body and can help you burn calories. What’s not to like?

What if you’ve tried it and can’t seem to get results? Chances are you are not going at it hard enough or aren’t allowing enough time for recovery. As a general rule of thumb, you should aim to exercise between 85 and 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. This will help to give you the results you want. (Remember your maximum heart rate can be determined by subtracting your age from the number 220).

Moral of the story? Interval training works and fits well into even the busiest of schedules. Imagine cutting your workout from 90 minutes to 20 minutes. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

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What is EPOC (Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption)?

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , on June 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption is also referred to as exercise after-urn. EPOC is the number of calories expended, above resting values, after an exercise session. EPOC represents the amount of oxygen consumed by the body in order to return to its pre-exercise state.

Following exercise, your body can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a full two days to fully recover and reach a resting state. Many studies have found that the duration as well as magnitude of EPOC depends on the duration of your exercise session as well as the intensity of your workout.

The physiological mechanisms that are responsible for increased metabolism following exercise include lactic acid removal, increased ventilation, oxygen replenishment, phosphagen resynthesis and increased blood circulation as well as an increased body temperature.

There are a number of factors that can have an effect on EPOC. For instance, if you goal is to achieve maximum fat loss, you are going to want to optimize EPOC to help increase the total number of calories you burn each day.

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June Yoga Challenge- Recap 1

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , , on June 8, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life

Courtney at Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life has started an awesome challenge for June. Are you taking the June Yoga Challenge? I was in before I even finished reading the blog post about it!

The Challenge:

Incorporate Yoga into your exercise routine 3 days per week!

How I incorporated it:

1. An 1hr 15 minute yoga session at a local hot yoga studio (yay for Groupon and trying out new places!).

2. Spent 20 minutes mastering the Crow pose (for some reasons, I have always struggled with this one!)

3.  I also downloaded a free 20 minute audio yoga workout from YogaDownload.com and completed it at home.

My thoughts:

  • So relaxing!
  • Awesome stretching!
  • Can’t wait until next week!

It’s not too late to join the challenge!

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Workout Wednesday: Are You Making Your Workouts Painful?

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , , , , , on June 6, 2012 | 3 Comments »

You may have noticed some changes to Blogitness! As I am just a few short weeks away from completing a second Master’s degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion, I really want to focus on fitness and nutrition education on my blog. While I’ll still be including personal experiences, fun and non-fitness related items, look for much more informative blog posts!

Additionally, be on the lookout for more exciting giveaways!

As my blog continues to grow, I am always looking for suggestions. I gladly accept and consider all suggestions thrown my way!

If you attend the gym regularly or workout on your own consistently, that is fantastic news! However, no matter how regularly you exercise, you could be making your workout painful or less effective by not executing proper form of each exercise. Here are some of the common mistakes you might just be making.

Crunches

Your mistake: overdoing it on the crunches. If you think the only way to get the abs you desire is by doing crunches, guess again. Too many crunches can actually hurt your back.
How to fix it: Cut back on your crunches – keep in mind you can still complete crunches just don’t overdo it. Mix in some core-stabilization exercises or consider signing up for a Pilates or yoga class.
Push-Ups

Your mistake: Positioning your hands wider than your shoulders. This places strain on the front of your shoulders with each push-up you complete.

How to fix it: Assume the right position. Your wrist should be positioned directly underneath of your shoulders. This move will help to tone your chest and triceps without hurting your shoulders.

Hurdler’s Stretches

Your mistake: Twisting your knee during hurdler stretches. If your foot is turned outward during the stretch, your knee becomes compressed, which can leave it more susceptible to injury.

How to fix it: Rotate your bent knee outward to that the sole of your foot presses on your inner thigh, and then reach for your toes to feel the stretch.

Overhead Presses

Your mistake: Placing strain on your back and shoulders by arching backwards so that your ribs pop out.

How to fix it: Make sure your knees are slighty bent and your ribs are down as you press your dumbbells in the direction of the ceiling.

Lunges

Your mistake: Doing wimpy lunges, are you taking baby steps when you lunge? This can place stress on the front of your knee – which can lead to strains and even worse – over time – the development of arthritis.

How to fix it: Take a big step forward when you lunge. Make sure your front heel is approximately two feet behind your back knee as you bend it forward in the direction of the floor.

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Why You Should Always Stretch:

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , , , on June 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Stretching serves a large number of purposes. As an athlete or avid exerciser, stretching is a something you should appreciate, learn to appreciate or at least try to appreciate. Stretching can do a lot for you – including helping to prevent injuries. After all, no avid athlete or exerciser wants to be sidelined with an injury that would have easily been prevented.

It is important to remember that static stretching should not be completed at the beginning of your workout when your muscles are cold. The best time to engage in static stretching is after a medium intensity five minute warm-up what may consist of jogging, jumping rope, jumping jacks or any movement that gets your blood flowing and increases your range of motion.  Research shows that static stretching before training can have a negative impact on power and performance. While the negative effects are minimal, it is important to remember that when you do decide to static stretch you are going to need to devote more than a few minutes to it.

Another type of stretching is dynamic stretching, which many trainers prefer before exercise opposed to static stretching. Dynamic stretching uses momentum and an exaggerated range of motion to help warm up your muscles for exercise. The goal of dynamic stretching is to warm up your tendons, muscles and ligaments that will be used during exercise.

Why You Should Stretch:

  • Increased range of motion.
  • Relief from muscle soreness due to the promotion of blood supply and oxygen to your muscles.
  • Improved capacity for activity.
  • Relief from muscle stiffness.
  • Helps to prevent sprains, strains and muscle tears. Can also prevent re-injury at the site of previous joint or muscle trauma.
  • Increased tissue temperature, which means increased metabolic rate.
  • Reduced muscle tightness.
  • Important during rehabilitation.
  • Increased musculotendinous.

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Muscle Fibers and Your Sports Ability

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , , , , on May 31, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Perhaps you prefer distance running to sprinting or you are a better sprinter than you are distance runner. Many in the fitness community believe that having more fast and slow twitch muscle fibers may play a key role in determining the type of athletics and individual may excel at as well as how an individual should train for athletics.

Your skeletal muscles re made up of bundles of individual fibers known as myocytes. Myocytes contains a large number of myofibrils, which are strands of protein known as actin and myosin. These protein strands can grab onto each other and pull. As a result this causes a muscle to shorten and contract.

There are two main types of muscle fibers:

  • Slow Twitch (Type 1)
  • Fast Twitch (Type 2)
    • Type IIa
    • Type IIb

Each muscle fiber type has a unique ability to contract and move, which influences how muscles respond to training as well as athletics.

Slow twitch muscles fibers are generally more efficient at using oxygen to generate fuel for continuous muscle contractions over an extended period of time. As a result, these muscle fibers fire more slowly and can go for a longer period of time before they become fatigued. Endurance athletes – like marathon runners – can benefit from type I muscle fibers.

Fast twitch muscle fibers use anaerobic metabolism to create fuel. As a result, they are much better at generating short bursts of speed or strength. This does mean that fast twitch muscle fibers will fatigue more quickly because they fire more quickly. These can be an asset to sprinters. Furthermore, type IIa fibers are known as intermediate fast-twitch fibers. These fibers can use both aerobic an anaerobic metabolism to create energy. Type IIb fibers use anaerobic metabolism to create energy. As a result, they excel at producing quick and powerful burst of speed.

Overall, our muscle fibers may influence what types of sports we are naturally good at and whether or not we are quick or strong.  Muscle fibers may influence whether you are an endurance athlete or prefer shorter activities like sprinting.

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Why Am I Always So Sore: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , , on May 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Starting a new workout program can be a challenge in itself. Making time, getting starting, finding a balance, learning new exercises and setting goals for yourself can be difficult. Add muscle soreness that often comes along with a new exercise regime and chances are you are not going to jump out of bed and dart to the gym. After all, you may find it difficult to get your arms over your head to even put your shirt on in the morning.  Understanding delayed onset muscle soreness may just be your best bet in keeping your post-workout aches and pains to a minimum.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a phenomenon of muscles pain, soreness and stiffness that often strikes within 24 to 48 hours following your workout.  This soreness is most common to individuals who begin a new exercise program and those who have been leading a relatively sedentary lifestyle for a while.  While DOMS may alarm or frighten those new to the workout scene, soreness is a normal and natural response to exertion. While you may be sore now and regretting those extra repetitions you decided to go for yesterday, DOMS will lead to increased strength and stamina as your muscles recover from soreness and build hypertrophy.

Exercise physiologists indicate that DOMS is the result of microscopic tearing of your muscle fibers. The extent of muscle tearing largely depends on the duration and intensity of your workout. Have your tried a new workout lately? DOMS may just be the result of your body moving in a way it is not used to moving in.

While many say that prevention is the best form of medicine, there is no known way that is 100 percent effective in preventing DOMS. How you prevent and treat muscle soreness may be based largely on your own personal preferences. Can we make one suggestion? Try a foam roller immediately following exercise. A foam roller can help ease knots and muscle tension. Spend a few minutes with your foam roller after exercising and you may not find it so difficult to get out of bed in the morning.

If you engage in a new workout or a more intense workout, you may find yourself sore. It’s almost a fact of life—intense exercise leads to soreness. May we suggest the following to help you deal with the small problem:

  • Simply rest. If you can sit still long enough (we know you are aching to get back out there), the pain will subside within a few days to a week.
  • Engage in low-impact exercise. If you are not one to sit around and wait for the pain do go away. Try alternating your workout regime instead of pushing through the pain. Try swimming, walking, riding a stationary bike or using an elliptical machine.
  • Take a non-steroidal over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication.
  • Take this opportunity to get a sports massage. If you’ve always wanted to try out a massage, take advantage of your muscle soreness and try one out.
  • Use the R.I.C.E. method much like if you had an injury (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation).
  • Listen to your body. If something hurts, do not do it.
  • Try a yoga class. Research does indicate that the stretching movements of yoga can help prevent injury and muscle soreness.

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Favorite Pinterest Workouts

Posted in Fitness Tips, tagged , , , , on May 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »

I love Pinterest. In fact, Pinterest is probably my favorite place to turn for fun, new and often quick workouts. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

workouts

workouts

workouts

workouts

pbfingers workout

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Sweet Indulgence!

Posted in Fitness Tips, Food, tagged , , , , , on April 26, 2012 | 8 Comments »

How amazing does this cookies ‘n cream cupcake look? It was amazing and very sweet. In fact, there was so much icing on it that it had to be eaten with a fork…it was a little on the top-heavy side.

This lovely, tasty treat called for a good workout. Which is why I was extremely happy to see this circuit (the Quick n Dirty Circuit) workout from Lena at Fit on the Rocks.

Capture

Now it is time for some work and later, a little shopping. I absolutely love shopping around the time of my birthday. The $10 Victoria Secret birthday card and the $15 LOFT certificate mailed to me for having credit cards at each store are absolutely burning a hole in my pocket. What better way to solve this problem than to spend them, right?

Question for you:

Any recommendations on a reasonably priced hotel in Washington DC with a good location?

Enjoy your Thursday!

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Yoga-Loving

Posted in Blog, Fitness Tips, tagged , on April 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I am seriously absolutely loving hot yoga. I found myself extremely excited when I pulled this articles up on FitSugar yesterday: Yoga Sequence Bikini Workout. While I have only done it twice, I am absolutely loving this home-yoga sequence. I am finding it perfect for when I have absolutely no time to hit up the yoga studio — like for the insanely busy next month I have coming up! While it is not hot yoga, I’m finding it to be a great substitute. If only we could get some hot weather and I could take this act to my backyard…then it could turn into hot yoga! Also, I’m terrible at the crow pose…I don’t know what it is but I cannot seem to do it. I blame it on sweaty arms during hot yoga. Ok….I’m done making excuses.

Maybe one day, I’ll be able to tackle a pose like this:

!

I can dream, right?

A few days ago a random trip to Washington DC was planned. Despite living only about 4 hrs from DC, I’ve never been there. I’ve only passed through and seen the monuments from the car. That’s when I turn to lovely bloggers for help, what should I do in DC? You guys always provide the best advice!

Now it’s time to make a quick dinner and do some freelance work (despite taking a full-time writing job, I’ve opted to freelance on the side for what I like to refer to as my fun-money!)

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