Fitness Tips

Trick Yourself

Trick yourself into eating less food by downsizing your plate. The average plate size in America has expanded from 9 ½ inches in the 1940s to 11 inches today! That’s a whole lot more calories sneaking onto the plate. Try switching over to a salad plate and adjusting your portions accordingly. You’ll find you’re eating the right amount of food without feel stuffed or hungry.

Connections Boost Longevity

Connections boost longevity. A few recent studies have come out to support the idea that those who live the longest have the most connections to people. From a traditional family to a horde or friends keeping our relationships intact and growing is one of the most important factors to how long and how well we’ll live into old age. So ask a buddy to workout with you, or meet up with someone for coffee after the gym. It’s a great way to stay healthy.

Change Your Plate Size

Trick yourself into eating less food by downsizing your plate. The average plate size in America has expanded from 9 ½ inches in the 1940s to 11 inches today! That’s a whole lot more calories sneaking onto the plate. Try switching over to a salad plate and adjusting your portions accordingly. You’ll find you’re eating the right amount of food without feel stuffed or hungry.

Cold Weather is Here

Cold weather is finally here. Remember to layer when you do your outdoor activities. Light gloves, a light hat, a vest, hoodie, or jacket that can be easily taken off and on will all help regulate your body temperature while you’re exercising outdoors.

The Halloween Hangover

Are you still rifling through your kids Halloween stash? Did you know those “fun size” bars are anywhere from 80 to 120 calories? You can burn them off at the gym. A high intensity workout burns 8 to 10 calories per minute so plan a little extra time on the cardio this week.

Mix up your cardio!

Our employees spend the whole day at the gym and we see people on the same old treadmill day after day, workout after workout. We strongly encourage you to mix it up. If you really like your regular cardio routine, that’s great, but how about changing it up one day a week? You could take a group exercise class to get you sweating or you could try out another piece of cardio equipment. If you’re usually a treadmill kind of person, try the Arc Trainer. However, if you’re married to your piece of cardio equipment and don’t want to experiment, then pick a different program to follow on the machine, or push yourself with a steeper than usual hill climb or faster than usual pace. The idea with cardio is to keep challenging your body so it will continue to improve. Have fun at your next workout!

What do I need to do to be healthy?

When BodyScapes has new clients walk through the door, a lot of time the trainers get asked what the bare minimum is that one needs in order to see progress and get healthy. Here’s our answer: According to the American College of Sports Medicine, you want to do about 150 minutes of cardio per week to maintain your weight. This should be spread out over four to six days during the week. If you’d like to lose weight, then you need to increase the amount of time spent on cardio to between 200 and 250 minutes per week.

For weight training, we recommend two sessions per week as a bare minimum. Most of our memberships include a personal training session and we really want you to use it! Let our trainers help you create a program that fits into your schedule and helps you progress from where you are to where you want to be. There are lots of different routines you can do for weight training, so if you’re confused please just ask one of our trainers for advice and we’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

How Much Protein Do You Need?

There are a lot of conflicting opinions about how much protein you need to eat every day.  The weightlifting crowd can’t seem to get enough and The Zone folks have their 30/30/40 plan.  What’s the right amount for you?  Well, researchers at the University of Maryland have put together a great online calculator.  You enter your age, activity level, height, and weight, and it gives you the answer. It’s a lot less than you think!  Enjoy.

http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/protein.asp

Fitness tip of the week

In the summer months don’t forget a little extra hydration, especially on humid days. Even if your working out in one of our air conditioned gyms you still need a little extra water than you do during winter months. You want to have 4 to 8 ounces of water for every 15 to 20 minutes that you’re exercising. Less for a light workout and more for a heavy workout. Remember if you feel thirsty you’re already a little dehydrated. Try to stay ahead of that curve and you’ll maximize your calorie burn and your workout time.