Healthy Image Fitness

Squats with Loop Resistance Band Exercise - Place band around both legs above the knee. Stand with your feet at shoulder-width apart. Keep your chest up and back straight. Begin to bend at the knees, keeping most of your weight on your heels while pushing your glutes backward. Inhale as you lower your body to a comfortable position. Now begin to raise your body to the starting position as you exhale. Repeat for 10-15 reps for a complete set. Add additional sets as you progress.

We honor all those who have served to protect our freedom!

You get the most out of your day when you wake up determined and go to bed satisfied!

Once in a while it's a good idea to think back and remember why you started exercising. You may have started to become fitter, stronger or to simply lead a healthier lifestyle. No matter what your reason for starting we find your effort to be absolutely awesome! Keep up the good work!

Single-Leg Bridge: benefits - glutes, legs, hips, core & improves balance.

A. Lie face up on floor behind ball with knees bent, feet on the ball and arms on floor by sides. Lift hips so body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees.

B. Pause, then slowly lift and extend left leg straight up. Lower leg, then return to start. Repeat for 30 seconds or predetermined number of reps. Switch sides; repeat.

The Single-Leg Dead Lift is a good exercise to work the lower back, core, glutes and hamstrings. 1) Begin by standing with your feet shoulder width apart and holding a lighter set of dumbbells (one in each hand and resting on the thighs with palms facing inward). 2) Lift one leg a couple of inches off the floor as you begin to tilt forward using the hips to lower your torso to a perpendicular position while keeping your raised leg inline with your torso to form a T (see photo). Note: Exhale as you lower your torso and inhale as you raise your torso. Complete multiple repetitions and then switch to the opposite leg and complete the same number of repetitions for a full set.

National Body Language Day (first Friday in October) recognizes the significance of nonverbal communication in life-silent messages you may not don’t realize you’re sending in your interactions. From a smile to a shoulder shrug, your body is revealing your emotions and thoughts.

Healthy Image Fitness updated their website address.

Functional exercise training is a method in which you perform exercises that easily transfer to activities performed in daily life. For example: If you perform a compound (multi-joint) exercise like the stiff leg dead lift, bicep curl, and overhead shoulder press all together while holding a medicine ball, the exercise would simulate lifting groceries off the floor and placing them into a cupboard or lifting something from the garage floor and placing it on a shelf. To learn more about functional training exercises speak with one of our certified personal training on your next visit to the fitness center.

Lighten Up & Still Build Muscle: You can lift light and still build big muscles, says new research from the Journal of Applied Physiology. Guys who did three sets of knee extensions with light weights three times a week increased their muscle volume as much as guys doing the same exercises with heavy weights. The key: Both groups worked out until failure, meaning they couldn’t lift the weight again at the end of each session.

Compound exercises involve the movement of more than one joint and this means your working more than just one muscle group. Compound exercises are time-efficient and as few as 8-10 compound exercises can stimulate all the major muscle groups. So if you’re crunched for time - try a workout of all compound exercises to see how effective these exercises can be.

Engage the core even more! Having a strong core (abs, lower back and torso) is essential to a fit and healthy body. Try single dumbbell or kettlebell exercises to add an extra challenge to your core. Off balance exercises increase core engagement. Example: When using a single dumbbell on either side to do a shoulder press movement your core muscle further engage to compensate for the weight imbalance between your right and left side. Try this same principal with other dumbbell exercises to strengthen your core. Need assistance with this technique or other exercise advice, speak with one of our certified personal trainers on your next visit to the fitness center.

It’s hard to beat the pull-up for a single exercise that does more to sculpt the entire upper-body. This exercise involves 9 primary muscle groups. It’s not the easiest exercise to master so completing a single full body-weight rep gives you a right to boast. If you want to conquer this all around upper-body movement start with the assisted pull-up/dip machine or have a workout partner help boost you through any sticking points. Do a few reps 3 times each week and before long you’ll crank out a full-body rep. Where you go from there only time will tell. Give it a try!

If researchers at Harvard say it’s so…then you should start right away…

“Exercising regularly, every day if possible, is the single most important thing you can do for your health. In the short term, exercise helps to control appetite, boost mood, and improve sleep. In the long term, it reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia, depression, and many cancers.”

The best part of National Blueberry Muffin Day (today) are the Blueberries!

Blueberries are the King of the Antioxidant Foods and Reduce DNA Damage, which may help protect against aging and cancer.

Grab a handful of these nutrient-dense berries. A 1-cup serving of blueberries contain: 4 grams of fiber, 24% of the RDI for vitamin C, 36% of the RDI for vitamin K as well as other nutrients.

One method for increasing the likelihood of achieving your goal is to make your workout schedule less flexible. Start by setting a livable schedule to exercise regularly (minimum 3 times per week). When requests for your time pop up that also interfere with your exercise schedule politely say, “I have a workout commitment at that time”. Over the long run you are far more likely to get other things accomplished if you take care of yourself physically.

Does regular exercise you did 10 years ago benefit you today, even if you’re not currently exercising regularly?

Yes, say researchers who did a reunion study of participants from a study a decade before. The reunion study found the control group (non-exercisers) from the original study continue to be less fit than those who exercised a decade earlier who no longer exercise. And those who exercised a decade earlier who continue to exercise are fitter now then they were the decade before.

Study published in Frontiers in Physiology

Have a Happy & Healthy Independence Day!

Happy Memorial Day - celebrating in the honor and remembrance of those who lost their lives while protecting our freedom!

The upcoming summer weather conditions combined with outdoor activities should remind us that proper hydration and drinking plenty of water is important.

Water is a necessary component for sustaining life and important to regulate body temperature, lubricate joints, remove waste and is essential to the proper function of bodily organs.

A slight change of 2% in body water puts a person at risk of dehydration. As little as a 3% change and physiological changes will begin to occur.

With such slight deviations in body water it becomes evident that a plan for proper hydration should be implemented during warm weather conditions and throughout the year.

Implementing a hydration plan begins with deliberately consuming 6 to 8, 8 ounce servings of water daily. This is a reasonable goal that is widely recommended and adequate for most people. It is also recommended to hydrate at least 30 minutes prior to exercise or outdoor activity.

Plan your daily hydration for improved performance and better health this summer.

May is National Physical Fitness & Sports Month. Get Out, Get Active, and Show How You Play!

"Nothing Will Work Unless You Do." - John Wooden (Coach)

It's Earth Day. Let's Take Care of her!

It's National High Five Day! Pass 'em out like you've never done before!

Don't Stop When You're Tired. STOP When You're DONE!

Be a Rainbow in Someone Else's Cloud...Invite Them to the GYM!

New Study shows that completing just 3 sets of daily 20 second stair climbing activity “exercise snacks” can produce increases in both VO2 max and peak power output in sedentary populations. The study compared subject who were all leading a sedentary lifestyle and the group performing daily exercise snacks had a 5% increase in aerobic fitness after the six weeks. The participants who participated in the exercise test group climbed 60 stairs 3 times daily. The activity included a warm-up of jumping-jacks, body-weight squats and lunges and also included a cool-down of walking. The study was published in the Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism Journal.

Top Tricep Training Exercises - Study sponsored by ACE at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse evaluated eight popular triceps strength-training exercises and the three exercises that top the list for ‘best’ engaging the triceps muscles are the Triangle Push-Ups, Dips and Triceps Kickbacks.

Triangle push-ups are a variation on the classic push-up. Place the hands next to each other, directly under the upper part of the chest and make a rectangle with the thumbs and index finger of each hand. Now keep your legs, core, torso (spine) and head all aligned in a straight position (like a regular pushup) or modify with knees remaining on the floor. Begin to lower your body by bending at the elbows and using the triceps muscles to slowly lower your body weight to just above your hands as you inhale. Hold this position for one count and then begin to contract your triceps muscles to raise your body to the starting position as you exhale. Continue for multiple repetitions (8-15) to complete a single set (add more sets as you progress). If you need help with this exercise or any other exercise please speak with one of our certified personal trainers on you next visit to the fitness center.

Glute Kickback (muscle worked glutes): Starting position - kneel on an exercise mat and bent at the waist with your arms extended in front of you. You back is parallel to the floor (see photo).

As you exhale, lift up your right leg until the hamstrings are in line with the back while maintaining the 90-degree bend at the knee. Contract the glutes throughout this movement and hold the contraction at the top for a second. Tip: At the end of the movement the upper leg should be parallel to the floor while the calf should be perpendicular to the floor.

Go back to the initial position as you inhale and now repeat for 10-15 reps. Then repeat on the opposite leg for a complete set.

Are you training for a 5k walk/run or other distances on an indoor treadmill and want to simulate outdoor conditions? Try cranking up the incline to at least a 1% grade or slightly higher. This will help to compensate for wind resistance, hills and other natural elements that are lacking when it comes to training on an indoor treadmill.