Take a DEEP Breath!

 

 

When you breathe through your nose, you stimulate the para-sympathetic nervous system. This has a soothing, calming and focusing effect on the way you “feel.” It increases your ability to stay in-the zone.

 

When you breathe through your mouth, you stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. This has the opposite effect. It puts your whole body into emergency mode, while releasing a cascade of catabolic stress hormones into your blood stream.

 

Deep, full nasal breathing delivers more oxygen into your bloodstream and to your muscles than mouth breathing. Nasal breathing maximizes your lung capacity and respiratory efficiency. Greater respiratory efficiency speeds up workout recovery.

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Understanding the Workout:

 

We all know that exercise is good for you, but when you understand why, it makes getting off the couch and into the gym a lot easier. A lot happens in your body when you first start working out, and the longer you work out the less things change. The first thing you notice when you start working out is that you're out of breath and your pulse is high. This is always a bit disconcerting, but it's perfectly normal. When you first start working out, your body responds by raising your heart rate and causing you to breathe heavy. While those first few weeks are tough, exercise gets a lot easier as you go along, and it's because your body starts adapting to your workout. Of course, everything in your body is connected, so while you might only feel a difference in your breathing or heart rate at first, it's tied to your muscles as well.

 

The way you get the oxygen to the muscle fibers is by breathing oxygen into your lungs and then your heart pumps the oxygenated blood into your muscle. So, today you begin punching and kicking the bag for the first time. Your heart rate is pretty high, your breathing is pretty heavy, and you feel pretty crappy. But if you do that every day for three or four weeks you'll notice that at the same speed and intensity your breathing won't be that hard. The reason for this is because your muscle has changed and it's using oxygen a lot better which lowers your heart rate.

 

The awful truth of exercise is that while it can make you feel better over time, you're going to feel pretty bad at beginning. The reason is that exercise actually damages your muscles.

 

Someone who has been let's say "lazy" for a while and starts working out will notice that they're sore. What's happening is they're doing microscopic damage to their muscles each time they work out. It sounds bad, but it's actually good. The muscle responds by repairing itself and that makes the muscle stronger than it was before.

 

So you're sore, and you're weak. That's because the muscle damage causes inflammation and pain. That's a critical part of the muscle adapting and getting stronger. That soreness usually lasts for 24-48 hours. It's called delayed onset muscle soreness. People should feel it, but it shouldn't make them want to quit. On the contrary, it should make you want to continue. Your body is telling you something important! Listen to it!

 

The other thing that happens is your heart gets bigger and stronger. Those are the things that people notice. You're getting these changes in the muscle that actually make exercise feel easier. In addition to your heart rate slowing down and your heart getting bigger and stronger, your blood vessels become more elastic. That's really good. That means your blood pressure can be lower.

 

Additionally, you're also burning calories and fat, which contributes to weight loss. Your body typically burns calories from carbohydrates for energy first, and then moves onto burning fat as a source of energy. When you burn more calories than you take in, you'll tap into fat for energy and lose weight. If you don't use calories for energy, your body starts to store them as fat cells for an energy reserve.

 

On top of easier breathing, a lower pulse, lower blood pressure, and everything else, your brain function also improves. Essentially, when you start exercising, you feel better because your brain and body can do more. You're not winded walking up stairs. Your heart rate and blood pressure goes down, which decreases your risk for a number of diseases and gives you more energy. Your brain benefits from the added oxygen to help you perform basic tasks easier.

 

 

How do you get rid of the athletic hangover?

 

Lactic acid build-up has been blamed for prolonged muscle fatigue and discomfort; however, this concept is not widely accepted today.

Lactic acid is produced during intense levels of exercise when the oxygen demands of the muscle fibers increase beyond what the blood is capable of delivering. To produce the energy needed, the body begins another process, which works in the absence of oxygen. Lactic acid—a byproduct of this process—locks up your muscles, and because it is an acid it causes your muscles to experience that burning sensation.

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But lactic acid is completely washed out of the muscles within 30 to 60 minutes after you finish riding. Since muscle soreness does not show up until 24 to 36 hours later, scientists have been exercising their brains to come up with another explanation.

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Currently, the most popular theory is that when you push the limits of your exercise, you cause "microtrauma" to the muscle fibers—localized damage to the muscle fiber membranes and contractile elements.

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Over the 24 hours, the damaged muscle becomes swollen and sore. Chemical irritants are released from the damaged muscles and can irritate pain receptors. In addition to the injured fibers, there is increased blood flow from increased activity to the muscle, causing a swelling of the muscle tissues, which causes enough pressure to stimulate pain receptors. Instead of having free-moving muscle fibers the next morning, you have fibers that are fatigued, have microscopic tears and are swollen.

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Whatever the precise mechanism, current scientific research points toward muscle damage as the culprit of muscle soreness. The nerve supply to the muscles perceive this abnormal state and send messages of pain to your brain as soon as you move them the next morning.

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By moving the sore muscles, you gradually begin to restore them to a normal state, but you will not be able to exercise to your full potential, because the damaged muscles have lost some strength.

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Typical recommendations for short-term treatments include stretching, topical application of sports balms, creams, and submersion in a hot tub or time in a sauna.

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The cure for muscle soreness is relatively simple: If you gradually increase the strength and endurance of your muscles and you stretch and warm up properly before the activity you will be engaging in, they will not get as sore.

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Psoas Muscle (aka 'Survival Muscle')

 

 

Our hip flexors are the engine through which our body moves. They control balance, our ability to sit, stand, twist, reach, bend, walk and step.

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Everything goes through the hips.

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Tight hip flexors are the root cause of problems such as:

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• Nagging joint pains in your legs, lower back or hips

• Walking with discomfort

• Hips locking up

• Bad posture

• Trouble sleeping

• Sluggishness in day to day life

• High Anxiety

• Digestive problems

• Compromised Immune System

• Circulatory issues

• Loss of sexual performance

• Lack of Explosiveness in the gym or sports

 

The psoas is the only muscle in the human body connecting the upper body to the lower body. The muscle attaches to the vertebrae of the lower spine, moves through the pelvis and connects to a tendon at the top of the femur. It also attaches to the diaphragm, so it’s connected to your breathing, and upon it sits all the major organs.

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A functioning psoas muscle creates a neutral pelvic alignment, stabilizes the hips, supports the lower spine and abdomen, supports the organs in the pelvic and abdominal cavity and gives you greater mobility and core strength.

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When it functions well, it has the power to…

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• … help you achieve peak performance day after day after day.

• … rapidly drop ugly body fat that stubbornly clings to your body.

• … train harder, heavier and gain strength faster than you thought possible.

• … hit your peak of sexual health.

• … flood your mind and body with renewed energy and vigor.

 

Put simply, this muscle is the core of activity in your body. So, when it's out of balance or if the psoas tightens, there are serious consequences which flow throughout the body.

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Bulging belly syndrome

 

Wonder why your stomach still sticks out even though you’re hammering the core exercises every day? It's a common myth that bulging belly is due to weak abdominal muscles. The real cause is likely to be tight psoas muscles, which cause the lower back to curve pushing out the stomach. When the psoas works properly it pulls the abdomen back tucking the tummy in, giving you a strong, flat stomach.

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Fat loss inhibitor

 

As the body's "fight or flight" muscle, your psoas is deeply connected to our natural survival instinct. It instantly tightens in moments of danger to either protect you (in a fetal position) or help you run, fueled by the release of adrenaline. However, if your psoas is constantly tight, it signals to the body you are in constant danger, leading to overworking of the adrenal glands. When this happens, your immune system suffers and your body automatically switches into fat storing mode in anticipation of danger. Can’t shift that weight? Consider the condition of your "survival muscle."

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RoBuSTraining™

 

Robust means healthy, vigorous, hearty, strong, tough, forceful. That pretty much describes our RoBuSTraining™ program!

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Resistance Bands and Suspension Training provides benefits that are not offered by free-weights. We call it our RoBuSTraining™ system! In real life, our bodies move to the side, backwards, forwards and diagonally. We train the same way! Traditional weight training tends to be linear and follow one plane of movement (sagittal). RoBuST™ Suspension Training encourages multiplanar training (frontal, sagittal, transverse) which integrates all your motions and mimics real life movement. RoBuST™ simultaneously builds strength, improves balance, increases flexibility, and burns fat.

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And, it works the core! The “core” refers to a set of four muscle groups that form a cylinder surrounding the organs of our lower torso. The abs muscles, including the rectus abdominus and the obliques, form the front and sides of this cylinder. The multifidus muscles strengthen our lower back and provide our lumbar vertebrae with stability and support. The core also includes a ceiling, formed by the diaphragm muscle that allows us to draw air into our lungs, and a floor, formed by a sling shaped muscle that connects the front and back of our pelvic area.

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These core muscle groups offer a few specific benefits to our overall strength and stability. First, they provide a level of constant tension (when they’re in shape) that holds the spine in balance and in place. When the core muscles are well conditioned, the spine stays aligned all the time, even as we sleep. Proper alignment and posture contribute to better circulation, better nervous system health, and more effective results as we exercise any other muscle group.

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When we work out and exercise the core on a regular basis, we provide a strong and stable base for every movement in every other part of the body. So any exercise or workout routine that targets the core area actually supports strength and athletic development in the arms, legs, hips, shoulders, chest and upper back.

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Suspension training requires attention to body position, so every time we keep our body line straight while, for example, lifting our weight with our arms, we’re concentrating tension in the core and compounding the benefits of one exercise into many. The more an exercise or workout routine targets the core, the more every muscle group stands to reap the benefits.

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As we exercise and subject our large muscle groups to intense workout routines, our limbs gain strength, tone, and sometimes mass, depending on our approach. Our core muscles also develop, and while this happens we build endurance, stability, and six pack abs.

 

But if we exercise using our own sense of balance or our own body weight to generate resistance, additional changes are also taking place. The reduced structure of this type of exercise allows us to develop the subtle supporting groups of smaller muscles that are sometimes called the “rails”. These muscles, and this kind of workout, can also cultivate the nerve impulses and reflexes that contribute to balance and coordination.

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Kickboxing!

 

Kickboxing (Cardio Kickboxing) is an aerobic form of exercise that helps strengthen and condition your body. It is a martial arts sport that will help you get fit and provide health benefits, such as reduced body fat, increased flexibility and a strengthened heart. Kickboxing improves your balance, precision and builds overall body strength. Abdominal muscles are strengthened from the various positions required to perform many of the moves. Core strength is improved as you balance to perform the routines. Kickboxing will tone your arms and thighs and tighten your rear end! This training also builds athletic qualities such as speed, power, balance, timing, and coordination. Want to burn calories? How about up to 500 in just 30 minutes!

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What other form of exercise can you burn up to 500 calories in just 30 minutes while learning how to defend yourself at the same time! Crank up the music and let the fun begin! That's right...Cardio Kickboxing is anything but boring. Tone every muscle in your body, lose inches, get ripped, strengthen your heart, increase flexibility, coordination and focus. Get rid of toxins, feel great and increase your confidence like never before. After the first class you will discover that you can do things with your body that you would have thought was not possible. You might have thought, “I’m not strong enough,” or, “I can’t kick. I am just not flexible,” or, “I would break my wrist if I hit something that hard!” You will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to dismantle many, if not most, of some old beliefs (and excuses!)

 

Will you be sore the next day after a kickboxing class? Maybe, but for sure the day after and possibly a few more days after that! It kind of sneaks up on you. But, it’s a good kind of soreness. It is telling you how good of shape your body is in, or how out of shape you are. After a while, you will be moving faster, hitting harder, spinning smoother on that cool looking back kick that you saw Bruce Lee do, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and burning calories so fast you’ll need a calculator to keep track!

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Bottom line: There are few forms of activity that will provide close to the weight reducing, body mechanic improvements and overall fitness and health improvement as kickboxing.

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Are You NUTS!

 

Top 4 Nuts for Health and Weight Loss

 

1. Walnuts 

 

Topping the list of healthiest nuts to include in your diet is walnuts. Walnuts are great because unlike the other nuts, they provide a hearty dose of the omega-3 fatty acids.

 

These fatty acids can help to improve insulin sensitivity, and create a leaner body.

 

Walnuts are also great for combating heart disease as they can help:

 

...lower your cholesterol levels

...reduce plaque build-up

...lower the level of inflammation in your body

 

2. Almonds 

 

Next on the list of nuts to include in your plan is the almond. Almonds tend to be higher in protein than other nuts, so can help with the repair and rebuilding of muscle tissue.

 

Almonds are also a great source of vitamin E.  This is a key antioxidant! Vitamin E can improve recovery rates, fight inflammation and age-related memory loss. If that’s not enough, it keeps your skin, hair, and nails looking their best too.

 

Be sure when purchasing almonds that you buy plain almonds, not roasted almonds or those with added flavoring or coating. These will only add unwanted salt and/or sugar, making them a less healthy option for your fat loss diet plan.

 

3. Pistachios

 

An often forgotten about nut, pistachios should also be included in your diet plan. The great thing about these nuts is that since the shelling process takes time, this may mean you consume fewer nuts when snacking. Pistachios are tiny, but pack a powerful nutritional punch. These small nuts contain protein, fiber and a wealth of vitamins and minerals. Adding pistachios to your healthy eating plan might also benefit your heart.

 

4. Pecans

 

Pecans are another nut that is a smart addition to your diet plan. They rank in the top 15 foods for their antioxidant levels, so they work hard to combat free radical damage and oxidation in your body. And, pecans are a good source of:

 

... magnesium

... zinc

... iron

... calcium

... selenium

 

These are all nutrients you’ll need to power up an active lifestyle. They’re also a high fiber nut, so a great one that will help to control your blood glucose levels. When shopping for pecans, here again, look for plain pecans and not honey coated.

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Dieting

 

Before/After...Before/After...Before/After...Before/After...

 

Health Risks

 

Very-low-calorie diets that result in rapid weight loss are often dangerously low in essential nutrients, including vitamins and minerals. A lack of vitamins can lead to a host of health problems, including immune system suppression and bad skin, hair and nails. Chronic mineral deficiencies may also have long-term effects on your health. A lack of essential minerals can lead to fluid imbalances, cardiac arrhythmia or an irregular heartbeat, muscle cramps and loss of bone mass.

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Psychological Complications

 

Very-low-calorie diets may result in a rapid initial weight loss but many dieters find that the severe hunger associated with eating so little food makes it hard to stick with this type of eating program for long periods of time. Hunger levels may become so severe that the dieter falls into a diet/binge cycle of eating. Crash dieting may lead to eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. A very-low-calorie diet can also be socially exclusive, especially if friends and family are eating normally.

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Safe Weight Loss

 

To avoid losing weight too fast, most diet experts agree that a moderate reduction in food intake combined with a moderate increase in physical activity is best. By eating 250 fewer calories per day and engaging in exercise that results in 250 extra calories being burned there is a net loss of 500 calories per day, or 3,500 per week. This will result in a weight loss of around 1 pound per week. This slow and gradual weight loss will be sustainable, will not trigger the starvation response and will have no negative impacts on your health.

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Bottom Line: Eat the right food and Exercise. Avoid the dangerous and false claims of miracle pills, medical breakthroughs and machines that will get you fit and healthy using just 3 minutes a day! Don't fall for the "cottonball diet" or the "Tongue Patch Diet" or products with labels that the products shouldn't be used by anyone under age 18, and to seek medical attention if any "unusual symptoms" occur. Or when the label advises you to consult a doctor before using if you or a family member have ever been treated for or diagnosed with any medical condition.

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