Fitness Tips

Fitness Tip #1 -
Calories

With all the weight hype craze one thing remains true:

Calories in > Calories burned = weight gain

Calories in < Calories burned = weight loss

What does this mean for you? If you consume less calories than you burn throughout the day, you will lose weight. And if you are consuming more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. The human body requires a certain amount of calories to maintain life (to pump the heart and maintain healthy muscle tissue, the lungs, brain, and other important organs). This is called BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate. Your BMR coupled with the calories you burn during your workout equals calories burned. Treadmills, elliptical trainers, bikes, and steppers are all great ways to burn calories. But kickboxing is even more effective.

Fitness Tip #2 -
Muscle Imbalance

It’s a proven fact that there are 80,000-100,000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears in the United states every year.

70% of those are from non-contact sports.

How does this happen?

Lower body muscle imbalances put the lower extremities at high risk of injury. Weak muscles cause tighter (stronger) muscles to be recruited by the central nervous system in order to perform the same movement. Over time this can cause pain in the joints, muscle strains, and/or injuries (that sometimes require surgery). Most people don’t realize they have these imbalances until it’s too late.

An exercise program that strengthens weak muscles and stretches the tight muscles retrains the neuromuscular system to perform more efficiently and to prevent these common injuries.

Please contact your Personal Training staff at South Austin Gym to assist you in modifying your workouts before you become one of these statistics.

Fitness Tip #3 -
Posture

Upper body postural distortions lead to shoulder pain.

Poor posture causes the chest muscles to shorten and the upper back muscles to lengthen. This lengthening of the upper back muscles not only causes them to be weak but causes the central nervous system to recruit other muscles to perform tasks. These muscle imbalances also cause additional stress to be placed on the smaller stabilizing muscles of the shoulder girdle (the rotator cuff muscles). These muscles, after prolonged misalignment, get stretched and sometimes torn. These common imbalances cause pain, fatigue, and eventually injury. Proper stretching of the short muscles and strengthening of the lengthened muscles can retrain the neuromuscular system and alleviate pain, reduce your chances of injury, and enable your body to perform tasks more efficiently (which will also lead to greater strength gains). We all have lives outside of the gym, whether you’re a weekend warrior, avid gardener, parent, or just simply need to carry your groceries in from the car. The shoulder is a vital part of your healthy lives and also the most unstable of all the joints. Shoulder surgery is not only expensive but a huge burden on every aspect of your life. If you are experiencing shoulder pain, contact your Personal Training staff. Ask for a fitness profile, assess your posture, and correct these problems before they get too bad. Don’t let these problems stop you from achieving your personal fitness goals!

Fitness Tip #4 -
The Core

What is “The Core”? The core consists of all of the muscles directly or indirectly involved with stabilizing the spine. The core is the beginning point for movement and the center of gravity for the body. Research has shown that chronic low back pain is directly linked to weakness of the core muscles. 85% of US adults have this problem.

The first step in correcting these muscle weaknesses is to learn the “Drawing In” maneuver. This maneuver consists of drawing your belly button towards your spine. The second step in correcting this weakness is to stabilize the pelvis in a neutral position. Once these moves have been mastered it is now time to perform the desired movement.

“Drawing In” and stabilizing the pelvis should be done before every movement. Holding this position is key to proper posture and muscle recruitment. This is a process of retraining your neuromuscular system to protect your spinal column before every movement. Eventually, this will become second nature.

If you have any questions please ask Ty or any of our Personal Training staff.

Fitness Tip #5 -
Dysfunctional Breathing

Place a hand on your chest and another on your abdomen. Which hand moves the most when you inhale and exhale? If you answered “the hand on my chest,” then you are one of many people who breathe improperly. If you breathe properly you will breathe in though your diaphragm and your abdomen will move.

This improper breathing pattern could cause some of the following side effects: headaches, feelings of anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep patterns, and poor circulation.

Fitness Tip #6 -
Weight Loss

Are you frustrated because you spend several hours in the gym trying to lose weight and you changed your diet but you still cannot lose those extra pounds?

Prolonged elevated stress levels play a part in retaining fat. If you experience high levels of stress on a regular basis due to either work or a stressfull life you could be experiencing this problem.

When you experience stress your adrenal glands produce extra levels of cortisol. Cortisol plays an important role in regulating blood sugar, energy production, inflammation, the immune system, and healing. Excess levels of cortisol promote weight gain (especially around the abdomen), depress immune function, and accelerate the aging process.

Stress reduction is an essential part of reducing elevated cortisol levels. There are several ways to relieve stress: meditation, yoga, physical activities and exercise, hobbies, and being sure to get adequate sleep. The best method or combination of methods varies from person to person. Finding what works for you is the key.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask the personal training staff.

Fitness Tip #7 -
Three Steps to Fitness

Whether you’re an avid weekend warrior or it’s your first time in the gym there are three steps needed to achieve your fitness goals. The safest progression is increasing stabilization, then strength, and finally power.

Here are your building blocks:

• Stage 1: Stabilization - This is where it all begins: correcting posture, strengthening weak muscles, strengthening the core, increasing flexibility of tight muscles - in short, giving you a good solid base to progress safely to your fitness goals.
• Stage 2: Strength - Core strengthening, increasing flexibility, and the addition of strength exercises based on your fitness goals
• Stage 3: Power - The top of the pyramid, following the safe progression through stages 1 and 2. This stage adds quick, powerful, explosive exercises to increase speed and strength.

Stage 1 – The main focus of this stage is to increase stabilization strength and develop optimal communication between the nervous and muscular systems. This stage is designed to prepare the body for higher levels of training and is crucial for everyone. Through this training the body learns to perform proper movement patterns. If your posture is out of alignment improper muscles will be recruited to perform the movement. Over a period of time injury will occur. This could be a huge setback to achieving your fitness goals. If you are experiencing pain in your joints, your body is trying to tell you something. Have you had your posture assessed? Get the most out of your workouts by learning proper form and progression. These methods are scientifically based and used by several professional leagues including the NBA, NFL, MLB and several others.

Stage 2 - This stage is the most commonly practiced stage in training. Most people skip the stabilization phase and go to the strength phase (some remain here throughout their training). After you’ve corrected posture and strengthened core muscles, it’s now safe to incorporate typical strength training. If you are looking to build strength and/or muscle size, this stage incorporates exercises to help you achieve those goals in the safest way possible. To see strength gains or muscle size gains, it’s best to cycle through these stages. These phases are the safest way to achieve your goals with recovery vital to prevent injury and over-training. If your goals are to increase speed, agility, and quickness it’s safe to progress to the power phase after completing the strength phase.