Fitness Together Brecksville

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

No Excuse Zone: The Time is Now to Fall Back into Fitness

No Excuse Zone: The Time is Now to Fall Back Into Fitness

The Labor Day holiday closes out the season of barbecues, lounging by the pool and overindulging during summer vacations. As you embark on a new month and a new fall season, you have an important choice to make. Are you going to jump on the train to a healthy and fit lifestyle or opt for a layover until the New Year’s resolution season rolls around?

September is the month of do-or-die for establishing a fitness routine before the busy holiday season arrives. Don’t miss out on this small window of opportunity to get back into the healthy habits that you may have abandoned during the summer months. It’s time to bust through your excuses and fall back into a routine that will get you the results you want.

Welcome to the “no excuse zone.”

No Time? Make Some.
One of the top excuses personal trainers nationwide hear over and over again about starting a fitness program is lack of time. When clients tell Sean Sullivan, personal trainer and studio owner at Fitness Together Brecksville, that they don’t have enough time in the day to exercise, he offers a simple math equation to help them put their daily schedules into a more realistic perspective.

24 hours in a day minus 8-9 hours of sleeping, leaves 15-16 hours of awake time.

Sullivan believes that if you can’t take as little as 30 minutes per day out of a total of 15-16 waking hours doing something good for yourself such as working out, then you aren’t being realistic about the actual total number of hours in a day. Breaking it down even further, 30 minutes is only 1/30 of your total waking time each day. So, even if you have 29 items on your daily to-do list, you still have time to make working out the 30th item on your list.

To make sure that you carve out time and follow through on working out, Sullivan has found it helpful to have clients actually schedule their workout times in their smartphones or calendar books. Simply write your name in designated time slots each week. Or, if you feel guilty about taking time out of your day for yourself, you can always put a code name in your calendar such as “Operation Healthy and Fit.”

No Energy? Get Some.
While rest is important for recovering and repairing your mind and body, consistent inactivity can drain your motivation and energy levels. Having no energy can be a vicious cycle because if you wait to start working out until you have enough energy, then it will never happen. What you actually need to energize yourself is to get off the couch, step away from the electronics and get active. You’ll love the results you experience and enjoy the endorphins that are awakened when you physically push your mind and body.

“You just have to start and get the ball rolling because exercising regularly actually will increase your energy levels,” Sullivan explains. “I tell my clients that the first result they will see after they start working out with us is increased overall energy.”

No Money? No Problem.
Getting fit doesn’t have to mean joining a big-box gym with expensive introductory and monthly fees. An effective fitness routine can simply mean grabbing a group of friends or family members and doing calisthenics in a park (body weight squats, pushups, dips and lounges) or going for a walk/jog around your neighborhood. Even if you are tight on money, you can be active for free if you just get out and get moving.

If you’re looking for a quick but effective workout routine that can jumpstart your fitness regimen right at home, Lisa Clark, personal trainer at Fitness Together Brecksville, suggests starting with a simple set of 10 push-ups, 10 body weight squats, 10 sit-ups and 10 jumping jacks. Take a short break after finishing the set and then do it again, working your way up to completing the set of exercises three to five times.

“You’re working your whole body and you’re getting your heart rate up,” Lisa says. “Squats and pushups are the two mack daddy movements for working your total body.”

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Don’t Know Where to Start? There’s No Better Time than the Present.
To get started with a fitness routine that gets results, you need to first find a workout environment that fits your personality. If you are a social butterfly who is motivated by others, then a group workout environment may be your best option. On the other hand, if you are a shy person who prefers to work out alone, then you may enjoy a one-on-one personal training environment. Either way, just find an environment that fits your style and aim for at least 30 minutes, three times per week, of strength training and cardio exercise, suggests Sullivan.

“Take into account your overall lifestyle, your stress levels and your personal goals when finding a routine that will help you get the results you want,” Sullivan advises.

The time is now to start making time for you and your health. If you put into place the above strategies, you’ll then have a clear path to achieving your fall fitness goals.

So, what's your excuse? Get started with a personal trainer in Brecksville now!

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

How come sometimes I do 25 reps of an exercise and other times I only do 8?

Trainer Tuesdays

Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.

How come sometimes I do 25 reps of an exercise and other times I only do 8?

Adam Teplitz: There are a number of factors that influence how many reps you should be

completing.

Age is one of these factors. If a client is over the age of 60 or 70, it is best to focus on lower weight and higher repetitions. It is best to advance the exercise program by reducing rest instead of increasing the weight used.

Fitness level is another factor. For beginners, it is best to start with higher repetitions. Anywhere between 15 and 25 reps is ideal. This is necessary to build muscular coordination and conditioning.
Another factor is your body type. Muscular individuals will benefit from 6 to 8 repetitions with heavier weight. Most individuals whom are skinny will benefit from only doing 6 reps.

Your main goals are one of the more important factors. If your goal is to improve your strength and power, 6 repetitions or less is ideal. If your goal is increased muscle mass, 6 to 12 reps is ideal. Finally, to improve muscular endurance, you want to stay in the 12 to 20 rep range.
Yet another factor is the sport you're participating in. The number of reps completed should directly relate to the amount of strength or endurance required for your particular sport. Football players will often train with 6 to 10 reps. A tennis player will benefit from 20 to 30 reps.

It's always beneficial to switch the reps up so your body doesn't adapt. Keep your muscles guessing..

Taylor Burns: When thinking about repetitions, the program designed for you all depends on your goals. High rep training works the slow twitch fibers in our muscles which are built for endurance and fatigue less quickly. Low rep training on the other hand, works the fast twitch fibers which are more explosive and fatigue more quickly. Low rep (strength training) typically refers to 1-5 repetitions while high rep work (endurance training) typically refers to 12-15+ reps. The middle ground, 6-12 reps is referred to as hypotrophy or muscle building. It all just depends on your goal whether it is fat loss, strength and power or muscle building.

**Keep in mind that sometimes in order to eventually reach your main goal, it will sometimes take a combination of these different rep ranges to get you there. For example, sometimes you will need to build up your muscular endurance before you are able to add more strength.

Steven Madden: The amount of reps done of a particular exercise is dependent on the goal of a particular routine. Traditionally, reps in the range of 1-5 are for building power, 6-12 for building strength, and 13 or higher to build muscular endurance. Also, as the reps go up, the weight should go down. Studies have shown that all rep ranges are good for building muscle, but through different pathways. If you just did 25 reps of something, you should definitely be feeling the burn, while doing 8 heavy reps may have had you working hard for a little, you'll find that you'll recover faster. No matter what your goals, you want to be cycling through different rep ranges in different programs to help fight imbalances and weaknesses.

Justin Traft: How come sometimes I do 25 reps of an exercise and other times I only do 8? There is a reason to different rep counts . One being depending on the desired outcome of the purpose of the rep count . Meaning if you are going a low number say 12 your going for strength. Higher numbers like 15 your looking more at getting cut . More muscle endurance doing higher reps. That may be for someone just looking to tone but doesn't want to add a bunch of muscle . Keeps you looking lean. Sometimes your trainer may have you mix reps in one session that's just because there are exercises that are geared towards strength and some that are working on keeping you lean. Nothing wrong with that at all. Muscle confusion is the bodies best friend . Changing rep counts keeps body guessing therefore produces results day and day out because it can't get comfortable to the exercise or number of reps. Lastly if you are using low rep count of 8 to say maybe 6 don't be a alarmed reps may be low but probably using a little more weight to help the body gain some muscle . Usually lower reps your going for muscle strength low reps to concentrate on really working that one muscle. To help gain I that area.

Kelly Bailey: The number of reps you perform often depends on your goals, or the particular phase of

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your program. Low reps (1-5) couple with heavy weight usually yields gains in strength, middle rep ranges (8-12) with moderate weight tend to increase muscle size, and high reps (15-20) with light weight is often used to increase muscular endurance or during stabilization work. Though your main goals may fall into only one category (i.e. gaining strength or muscular size), it is important to include work in all three categories to maximize development.