Monday, December 25, 2017

3 Tips To Battle the Holiday Bulge…




The average person can gain 6-15 pounds from November 1st through January 1st. Holy! Busy schedules, holiday parties, and stress lead to this dramatic weight gain. More importantly, this lifestyle is unhealthy and prevents us from our ultimate goal of becoming fit. 

Here are 3 tips to help you control the DAMAGE this holiday season:

1. Engage in high intensity training (HIT). There are a variety of techniques to use within this method. The key is to maximize your time in the sweat box to get the best results. RHF uses metabolic training to maximize your fitness experiences. Read more.

2. Eat clean 80-90% of the time. Consume cheat meals rather than engaging in cheat days to keep your engine running. 400-600 calorie meals is a good range to shoot for. Choose meals full of color, balance, and variety. Limit or avoid heavily processed foods. Check out Isagenix to take your nutrition to the next level. Read more on Isagenix for enhanced performance.

3. Hydrate and rest when your body tells you to. Always listen to your body. As a baseline consume 60-120 oz. of water daily and try to get 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night. Read Snooze or Lose on the RHF Blog.

3 Fitness Tips to Endure the Holidays...




These tips will help you maintain your endurance and extend performance in the gym and on the road...

Fuel Properly: Between those big feasts you need to make sure that you eat the proper fuels to enhance your workouts and maintain good energy. Eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and plenty of water.

Plan to Workout: Focus on quality of training (always) rather than quantity. If you are traveling then plan ahead to find a gym nearby. If traveling by car, you can pack a set of dumbbells and resistance bands. If you absolutely are unable to make the time to put together a structured workout try spending 5-10 minutes doing squats and pushups to keep your blood and muscles moving.

Know Your Limits: If is important to know your limits when starting or even restarting a fitness plan. Always warm-up for 5-10 minutes, stretch, then engage with common sense. If using weights start lighter with more reps (10-15) and gradually build on it to avoid injury. Always listen to your body for best results.

Holiday Nutrition Tips From RHF...



 I'll keep this one short. You are what you eat. Better yet, your biology is your biography. Use these tips ward off the metabolic disruption in the coming days....

1. Front load your calories. Eat a healthy snack before you go to a holiday party or the grocery store. This will help prevent excess consumption of food at the party or store.

2. Double fist it. When at the party keep your hands full by holding a purse, camera, cell phone...anything that will keep you from holding food or a drink-unless it is water or course.

3. Use a small plate. When you do eat at the gathering, grab a small plate for small portions. After you have your plate of food, stay away from the table of temptation.

4. Just politely say no. Aunt Annie wants to load you down with doggie bags of leftover ham and turkey, potato salad, and pumpkin pie.

5. Remember to hydrate. Keep in mind that certain drinks (especially caffeinated and alcoholic ones) will dehydrate you. So drink up, yes, but make it water (filtered of course).

Committed To The Committed...Lurk Or Leap?



We are a results driven, exercise-centric program. RHF runs programs rather than just classes (big difference). We are committed to the committed.

Fitness is a necessity rather than a luxury. Treat it as such.

Your fitness action plan should always match your goals. Take the necessary time to get clear on what you truly want to accomplish. Make sure this is right for you.

Train for the trials…

Let fitness enhance your life rather than control it; getting better matters. This is why it is always a good idea to have a fitness pro watching over you. You will have to spend your time, energy and your financial resources to create fitness in your life. You cannot purchase fitness. You cannot wish fitness into your life. You gotta show up and put in real, honest work. Earn it like you earn your meals. Earn everything.

Fitness gives you more than you give it. Throw your heart into it and your body will follow.

No hard sell. If you want it come and get it…

Training is always worth the price.

Why lurk when you can leap?

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

16 Benefits of Your "Now Year" Fitness Plan



Everyone has their own reasons for making a decision to improve their quality of life through a fitness program.  And while most people are concerned with RELEASING weight and looking better, here is a list of many of the other important potential benefits that a balanced fitness program can provide:
 
Benefit #1 Release of Body Fat
Do you know that when you attempt to release weight by dieting alone, you end up losing some fat, but you can also lose much lean muscle and water?  Also, calorie restriction causes your body to slow down your basal metabolic rate, so as soon as you increase calorie intake again, the fat comes back on faster than ever.  A strategy built around sound nutrition and exercise can help you maximize fat release while maintaining or gaining valuable lean muscle.

Benefit #2 Weight Control
Unlike diets, a sound nutrition and exercise strategy can lead to a lifetime of stable weight, getting you off of the weight loss - weight gain roller coaster that comes with diets (think yo-yo).  A fad diet may get you back into those old pants again for a month, but a well thought out fitness lifestyle can keep you in them forever. Think lifestyle over dieting which tends to be short-term, fad driven and temporary.

Benefit #3 Increased Metabolism
Contrary to popular perception, a fast or slow metabolism is not a gift or curse you are given at birth.  It is easy to blame your metabolism for weight gain, but in reality, we are never the victims of our metabolism, rather we are the creators of our metabolism.  Your biology is your biography. You are what and when you eat. While calorie restricted diets literally destroy your metabolism, a properly designed exercise and nutrition plan can dramatically fire up your metabolism so you burn more calories all day, every day.

Benefit #4 Increased Muscular Strength and Endurance
Whether you participate in competitive sports, or just participate in activities of daily living such as carrying your child up and down the stairs or lifting the groceries out of the car trunk, increased strength will allow you to perform better. Ladies, you never need to worry about developing big, bulky muscles in order to see improvements in muscular strength and endurance. Work for strong over skinny, skinny follows strong (grit before gold).

Benefit #5 Increased Cardio-Respiratory Efficiency and Endurance
Do you get winded just going up a flight of stairs?  In less time than you think, a properly designed exercise regimen can deliver marked improvement in your endurance.  Research has repeatedly shown that a regular exercise routine can improve the performance of the cardio-respiratory system.  Do you realize that if you were able to reduce your resting heart rate by only 5 beats per minute; that translates into 7200 fewer times per day your heart needs to beat?  That is more than 50,000 fewer beats per week!  That is a lot less work that your heart will need to do. Hint: you can improve your cardio health with 30 minutes a day of high intensity work.

Benefit #6 Increased Bone, Ligament, and Tendon Strength
Resistance training and weight bearing exercise can strengthen the muscles, the skeletal system, and connective tissues as well.  This can greatly reduce your risk of injury and also helps you bounce back quicker from injuries.

Benefit #7 Increased Muscle Mass
Along with an improved physical appearance, increased muscle mass causes you to burn more calories throughout the day.  Muscle is metabolically active tissue and is the furnace in your body where fat is actually used for energy.  More muscle means faster metabolism and faster metabolism leads to a fitter life. When you are fitter you feel good and when you feel good you are fitter-it propels you forward.

Benefit #8 Reduction in Resting Blood Pressure
Did you know that high blood pressure increases the risk for coronary heart disease, and can cause heart attacks or strokes?  According to the American Heart Association, one in four adult Americans has high blood pressure, and nearly a third of them fail to realize it.  Of the 50 million sufferers, nearly half are women.  While medications are often warranted, lifestyle changes including improvements in nutrition and regular exercise are the real key elements in the control of blood pressure. The body has an amazing capacity to heal itself when acted on properly.

Benefit #9 Improvements in Cholesterol Levels
Cholesterol, a fatty substance found in cells and blood, is necessary for many normal bodily functions. Unfortunately many people have cholesterol readings that are too high - 200 and above - putting them at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.  If you are overweight, losing body fat can reduce your LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise your HDL (good) cholesterol, and as little as thirty minutes of exercise on most days can help improve overall cholesterol levels.

Benefit #10 Decreased Risk of Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes, where the body makes little or no insulin, is usually diagnosed in childhood.  Type 2 Diabetes, where the pancreas fails to make enough insulin to keep blood glucose at normal levels, usually occurs in adulthood and is far more common, making up about 90% of all cases of the disease.  Maintaining an ideal body weight and an active lifestyle are two of the main factors in preventing the onset of Type 2 Diabetes.  

Benefit #11 Decreased Risk of Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone mass and bone fragility, which leads to increased risk of fractures.  Men as well as women may suffer from it.  Studies have shown that resistance training and weight-bearing exercises are effective in increasing bone mineral density (also you should dump the carbonated drinks they can pull calcium out of the bones to buffer your blood pH leaving the bones fragile).

Benefit #12 Reduced Risk of Injury
As noted above, stronger muscles, bones, and connective tissue all contribute to reducing injuries.  But regular exercise can also bring on improvements in balance, proprioception, and muscle control that can help prevent slips and falls that could otherwise cause injuries.

Benefit #13 Improved Self-Esteem
There is truth in the saying "When you look good, you feel good and when you feel good, you look good"  The positive changes brought on by a structured exercise and supportive nutrition program are more than physical. Increased confidence, energy, and vitality are all benefits of a fitness lifestyle.

Benefit #14 Improved Posture
Whether it is behind a desk at work, behind the wheel of a car, or on the couch watching TV, we all spend a lot more time than we should on our butts. It is estimated the average person spends about 9 hours a day staring at tv and mobile devices. These positions can lead to lower back problems, weak and rounded shoulders, tight chest muscles, and a hunched over posture.  A properly designed exercise program can address these issues, and help undo the damage we unintentionally (or intentionally) do to our bodies all day long.

Benefit #15 Decreased Stress
Studies have shown that exercise can cause the brain to release endorphins and other neurotransmitters that actually help to improve your mood and leave you relaxed. Exercise is nature’s prosac (and beats prosac all the time in studies).

Benefit #16 Overall Improved  Health
The health benefits of exercise have been known for thousands of years, as evidenced by this quote:

"Speaking generally, all parts of the body which have a function, if used in moderation and exercised in labors to which each is accustomed, become healthy and well developed and age slowly.  But, if unused and left idle, they come liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly."

- Hippocrates 370BC