Posts Tagged ‘harker heights fitness bootcamp’
5 Exercise Goals for Beginners
A handful of things every newbie should put on his or her exercise to-do list.
Just getting started exercising? Congratulations! Your decision is one that will bring you face to face with improved health, looks, energy, and more. While there is a great temptation to swallow the entire gym whole in one bite, it’s better to take stock and come up with goals that fit your needs.
Ready to create some gym-worthy goals that will help you reach your destination of a better, healthier life? Get started with the list below.
Goal 1: Find a Time
The first thing you have to do before you work out is figure out when you’re going to head to the gym. Sure, you may go to the gym on a whim on occasion, but you can’t depend on these spur-of-the-moment trips to help you meet your other fitness goals. Rather, you’re going to have to come up with a regular time to get to the gym. Whether it’s at 4 a.m., during your lunch hour, or right after work, having a predetermined time to exercise will help you with the next goal.
Goal 2: Stick with It
Once you’ve figured out when you can work out, it’s up to you to make sure you follow through. Though you may think the benefits of exercising are enough to keep you going strong, you may be wrong. To make it a little easier to stick with your routine, give yourself a goal of sticking with your routine three days a week for three months. Once you’ve been at it for that long, it should be cemented into your schedule, making it easier to stick with exercise for the long haul. If you constantly need another goal, reset your clock for another three months a week or two before completing the initial three months.
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. - Jim Ryun
Goal 3: Trim or Tone
Toning up and trimming down are often the primary purposes for working out. If these are reasons for your new interest in exercise, use them to your advantage. Every day you work out, write down your weight, the most important measurements to you, and the exercises you perform. Over time, you’ll be able to see improvements in all three areas. And if you’re having trouble in one (it can be difficult to continue losing weight after a certain point), you can be encouraged by other statistics, such as your lowered blood pressure or how much longer you can stay on the treadmill now than when you first began.
Goal 4: Be Honest
When you’re first getting into your exercise regimen, it’s easy to be forthcoming about your workout routine. After all, you’re in the gym three times a day, lifting more weights in a day than you have in the past four years, and running six miles during lunch. But it becomes more difficult to be honest when you’ve been at it a while. To keep yourself honest, get an exercise partner to hold you accountable. The best way for this to work is to work out with this person every time you go to the gym. This way, your partner knows when you’ve worked out and can help you work out at the intensity necessary for you to meet your other exercise goals.
Goal 5: Limit Rewards
It’s not uncommon for people to feel they deserve rewards for every positive thing they do. If you’re one of these people, you may seek a reward for your exercising prowess. But it’s important to see the way you feel and look as your reward. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with missing a day at the gym or licking an ice cream now and then. However, if you’re not careful, your reward system can wind up making it impossible for you to meet your exercise-minded goals.
New Boot Camp Athletes In Killeen’s Best Boot Camp!
Alisa Kirkland
Stephan James
Tavion Clement
Shakisha Haskins
Megean Gustafson
Kamikio Brooks
Michael Butler
Shannon Stanley
Nichole Marlett
Exercising in the A.M.
How getting up early gives you the advantage.
When the sun begins peaking over the horizon, you shouldn’t be burying your head underneath a pillow, praying it will get dark and turn into night again. Instead, you should take advantage of the early hours to get in an hour of exercise. Why? Because the benefits far outweigh your desire to sleep in a bit.
Benefit #1: You’ll Lose Weight
Exercising during any time of the day is proven to help you obtain and maintain a healthy weight. However, recent research hints that exercising in the morning gives your weight-loss goal an extra push. How’s it do this? By improving your life a few ways all at once.
The first change is that working out during the first few hours of the day helps you sleep better, whereas working out in the evening can actually make it more difficult to sleep at night. Since healthy sleep habits assist your weight-loss goals, it only makes sense to want better sleep.
Working out in the morning also helps your metabolism to get high early on in the day and stay there throughout your day.
In addition, exercising early puts you in a healthy mindset from the moment you wake up, helping you make better decisions later in the day.
Benefit #2: You’ll Stick with It
Another reason morning workouts benefit you is the ease with which you can stick with them. Whereas it can be difficult to find time during your busy day to squeeze in exercise, making exercise the first thing you do during the day ensures you get in some calorie-burning time no matter what the rest of the day may bring.
Think you may not have the strength to stick with an early morning exercise regimen? Remember that in addition to sleeping better, early exercising gives you increased energy and gets the blood pumping throughout your body. This helps you fire on all cylinders, whether you have a big meeting coming up or have to pull a double shift at the warehouse.
Benefit #3: You’ll Get a Raise
As if an energy boost in the morning and increased metabolism weren’t reason enough for working out in the morning, this early-morning fix-all may be just what your career needs. If you’re skeptical, think about your attitude at work. Have you been down in the dumps? Too tired to go the extra mile?
Working out first thing in the morning may give you the boost you need to get past these issues. Once your boss recognizes your improved can-do attitude, your sudden willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, and the infectious smile you carry everywhere you go, you may find yourself on the fast track to promotion. And to think-all of this just because you woke up a few minutes early for some running, weight lifting, bike riding, swimming, or calisthenics!
Creative Morning Routines
Getting your exercise every day is no easy task. Getting it in before the rest of your family is awake can be even more difficult-especially if you’ve not a morning person.
To make sure you get your fill of morning exercises, keep these tips in mind.
- Leave the car at home. Once you’ve eaten a healthy breakfast, hop on your bicycle or grab your running shoes and get to work the old-fashioned way by your own power. Just be sure to keep an extra change of clothes on hand so you don’t have to wear your sweaty outfit all day.
- Do something fun. Everyone has different interests. To make sure you get up every morning and get in some exercise, make your routine fun. Whether you prefer kayaking, bike riding, or push-ups, implement this into your early morning routine and you’ll have fun as you improve your health.
- Become specialized and start teaching. Wish there was a spinning class at 6 a.m. at your gym? Find some likeminded folks and work to become a teacher of the class. As a teacher, missing class isn’t possible, so you’ll be sure to get your routine in first thing in the morning, even when you’d rather stay in bed.
Welcome 5 New Athletes To Killeen’s Boot Camp!
Welcome!
WELCOME!
Reshanda Tatum
Cheryl Fidelia
Angela Clemons
Timika Bynog
Gaynor Lewis
Killeen’s Best Boot Camp Welcomes New Athletes!
We welcome Angie Kopec and Natasha Conboy to our evening boot camp class!
The Slow Food Movement
More than a movement, it’s becoming a way of life.
Yummo
Cook your own food using fresh ingredients. Know where the vegetables, meats, and fruits you eat come from. Meet your local farmers if you can. It sounds like some sort of Utopian view of eating, and maybe it is. Known as the Slow Food Movement, this new view of an old way of life is garnering lots of attention from food lovers across the globe.
But is there something you can learn from this slow-and-steady approach to mealtime?
Good Things Take Time
While the Slow Food Movement may have only recently become a household name, it’s been around for quite some time. In fact, according to the web site for Slow Food International (slowfood.com), it all started in 1989. Just remember this the next time you’re frustrated with the amount of time it takes to cook a meal the old-fashioned way. Or when you’re tied up in traffic, building a boat from scratch, or teaching your children good manners. Because while you can get a high-fat, unhealthy meal at the snap of a finger, good nutrition and life takes a bit longer.
Conformity Is Bad
Sit down for an hour or two of television and you’re guaranteed to see multiple commercials for fast food and other restaurants. You’re likely not going to see commercials espousing the benefits of purchasing your own food from local growers and spending time cooking it. If you do see commercials for making homemade meals, it’s probably a grocery store pushing their prepackaged “homemade” meals that only require a little time in the microwave.
You knew it in high school and it bears repeating – conformity is not always a good thing. Yes, conforming to traffic laws and accepted etiquette is a good idea. But conforming to what the media says you ought to eat will do nothing but beef up your waistline, leave you feeling sluggish, and put you at increased risk for all sorts of diseases.
Patience Is a Virtue
One of the most obvious differences between Slow Food and other means of eating is the amount of time it takes to plant, harvest, and prepare foods. Whereas you may be accustomed to sprinting through life without giving a second thought to any of your actions, the Slow Food Movement forces you to think twice.
Where did this piece of celery come from? What chemicals were used to force it to grow faster and with fewer bugs? Did the person who grew and cultivated the celery get paid fairly? In the Slow Food Movement, emphasis is placed on buying local, enabling you to better appreciate the process of growing food.
At the same time, cooking your own food helps you learn patience inside your home, as it is impossible to whip up dinner in the three minutes you allow the people behind the counter at a fast food restaurant. Who knows? The Slow Food Movement may even encourage you to spend more time with your family, which everyone desires.
Support Local
Wondering how you can get your hands on more locally grown and raised produce and meats? Here are a few tips.
- Find your local farmers market and shop there regularly. It’s wonderful to develop a relationship with the people who are responsible for growing your food.
- Contact your local chamber of commerce. Having a hard time finding out where the farmers market is? Head to the chamber of commerce and ask. Someone there will either know or know someone who does.
- Talk with local grocery stores. Individually owned and some chain grocery stores are often willing to stock local fruits, veggies, and meats. Tell a manager that you would like to buy locally as much as possible, and you may have a better local selection in the near future.
Your Food, Your Migraines
Understanding the link between what you put in your mouth and what you feel in your head.
Must Have Coffee!
If you’ve ever experienced a migraine headache, you have one more life goal than those who haven’t. That goal? To never have a migraine again. However, to meet that goal, you have to be well aware of the triggers that set you on the painful path to a migraine.
Since some of the most common triggers are those things you put in your mouth, you may want to keep reading to find out what foods and drinks you should avoid to keep migraines from getting inside your head.
Regular Stuff
In your day-to-day routine, you probably come across a lot of potential migraine triggers. From peanut butter and sour cream to raspberries and pizza, nearly every food can be a trigger. Some, however, are more common than others. In most cases, a food-induced migraine begins to rear its ugly head within 20 or 30 minutes of consuming the food or drink.
To avoid migraines, consider avoiding the following foods and drinks that are known to cause migraine headaches:
- coffee, tea, cola, chocolate, and other foods and drinks that contain caffeine
- extremely cold foods, such as ice cream, particularly when you’re hot due to weather or exercise
- alcoholic beverages, such as red wine, champagne, whiskey, and beer
- cheeses that have been aged to perfection and other foods containing tyramine (substance formed when foods age)
- foods that contain nitrates and various other additives, preservatives, or artificial sweeteners
Special Instances
In addition to specific food and drink, other diet-related issues can result in the mind-boggling pain of a migraine headache. Your body requires a healthy balance of vitamins and minerals to function properly, and your head comfort requires the same. Any time this balance is thrown off, you put yourself at risk for a headache.
One of the easiest headache-inducing dietary mistakes you can make is missing a meal. Life is busy, you’re always on the go, and sitting down to eat isn’t always possible. But when you opt out of mealtime, you’re upping your risk of a migraine substantially. Another simple way to mess up your diet and your head is through dehydration. Unless you are regularly drinking from a tall glass of water, you’re probably a little bit dehydrated. Decide to drink even less one day and your head could pay the price. A final cause of food-related migraines is fasting. Less common than the others, fasting from all sorts of food causes an immediate lack of everything your body needs to keep going strong.
A Hot Headache Problem
While some people suffer migraines after chomping into a spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, others have the opposite problem. They suffer migraine headaches when the temperature outside starts to climb. And there is actually research that backs their claims of high-temperature headaches.
According to one study, the risk of suffering a headache climbs seven and one-half percent for every increase of nine degrees Fahrenheit. What’s this mean for you? Either live somewhere with a cool climate, stay inside during the hot days, or be prepared to suffer heat-induced headaches.
Causes You Didn’t Consider
The list of migraine triggers can go on forever. But if you’re suffering from migraines and still aren’t sure why, you may want to consider these triggers.
Your Exercise. It may seem odd, but pushing yourself too hard in the gym can lead to stress-related headaches.
Your Hair. It may look great, but if you keep your hair pulled back tight or in braids all the time or wear an improperly fitting hat, the stress could result in a headache.
Your Perfume. More than likely, you know someone who claims to get headaches around strong scents. If you suffer migraines and are around strong scents regularly, it may be time to give up your favorite scents.
Your Habit. Smoking has long been known to bring on headaches of all shapes and sizes. Put out your risk for cigarette-induced migraines by kicking the habit.
Your In-Laws. Actually, anyone or anything that raises your stress level puts you at increased risk for a migraine.
HCG…Should I? No!
I have been asked by several of our athletes and prospective clients what I thought about the HCG diet. I am extremely vocal about fad and crash diets and say so all the time. I didn’t know much about the HCG diet, so I did some research. Here are some of the things that I found. I listed my resources so that you too can read up and form your own conclusion.
What is the HCG Diet?
This diet plan was formulated by Dr. Albert T Simeons, who stated that a hormone HCG, can help men and women lose unwanted body fat, thereby assisting in weight loss.
The human chorionic gonadotropin hormone is a glycoprotein hormone naturally produced in pregnant women by the placenta, to nourish the growing fetus and provide nutrients.
The function of the HCG hormone is to signal the hypothalamus gland in the brain to mobilize fat stores and release the fat from the reserves. The hormone thus fuels the body with required energy by using up the fat from the reserves in the body.
Okay, okay enough of the science…
The HCG diet plan claims that it can help a person lose 1-3 pounds of weight per day. A person on the HCG diet plan is required to take HCG hormone (125 i.u. to 200 i.u. of Hcg everyday) on a daily basis. The number of days in this particular weight loss will depend on whether a person is taking injection or drops and the amount of weight wants to lose. Mostly, this diet plan runs over a period of 23 days.
One of the many things that scares me is that a person on this diet is strictly allowed to consume only up to 500 calories. Thus, besides taking HCG hormone, one also has to supplement the hormone intake with an extremely low calorie diet. The diet comprises of raw, steamed or grilled vegetables like spinach, celery, cabbage, etc. Organic fed veal, beef and skinned chicken are also permitted.
But is this diet plan safe?
HCG Diet Side Effects
Nevertheless, there are some human chorionic gonadotropin side effects that people on such a diet face. They are as follows:
Some HCG diet side effects in women are stomach ache, swelling of extremities, pelvic pain, etc. which occur due to Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), that has been caused as a result of an HCG diet. People on HCG diet injections are also seen to experience additional side effects of HCG diet, such as muscle cramps, lumps, gynecomastia, premature puberty in men, etc.
Another side effect is sudden weight gain. What!!!
Well, an HCG diet calls for consumption of only 500 calories a day, which is not enough for supporting normal brain function. The body compensates the deficit by using up the stored glycogen, protein and fat. The additional hormone will suppress appetite, however, once one is off the diet and begins to eat normally, the weight lost is gained back. Moreover, since people have starved for over 3 weeks (500 calorie diet!) they usually tend to eat more once the diet program is over.
Irregardless of the alleged HCG diet side effects, it is important to remember that even though the HCG diet proposes to help with weight loss, it is yet another crash diet and is not a healthy way to lose weight.
Here is what our Food and Drug Administration has to say about HCG as a dietary supplement,
It is not FDA approved for weight loss at this time for the following reason, and I quote ” It is not possible to obtain uniformity in the reporting of results solely through the use of a common standard, since hCG is a complex molecule.”
To lose weight in a healthy manner there is no shortcut. Eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly is mandatory for losing weight the right way!
Just get yourself to the gym and do Boot Camp! Call me at 254-247-4999
American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/29/9/940.pdf
American College Of Bariatric Physicians http://www.asbp.org/resources/uploads/files/HCG%20Position%20Statement.pdf
http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/06/hcg-diet-reviewed-by-fullbars-dr-michael-snyder/
Welcome New Athlete In Killeen’s Best Boot Camp!
Welcome Melissa Beckham!
Welcome Melissa Beckham!
Welcome New Athletes In Killeen’s Fitness Boot Camp
Welcome!
Katie Leonard
Kaylene McCutcheon
Donna Huardado
Building a Healthy Smoothie
Smoothies are supposed to be healthy. Here’s how to make sure they stay that way.
Yummo, Coach like!
Ever since you first heard of smoothies, your mouth has been watering. When you’re sipping on a smoothie, your mouth is in taste heaven. When there’s no smoothie in your hand, all you can think of are strawberries, bananas, and blueberries. But if you’re not careful, your smoothies can turn into nothing more than an average dessert.
To make sure your smoothie is as healthy as it is cold and delicious, you’ve got to have more than a good blender. You’ve got to have the right building blocks as well.
Building Block: Fruit
In a healthy smoothie, the most basic building block is fruit. Ideally, you want to go with fresh fruits that aren’t sitting in sugar water or have been made unhealthy in some other way. Rather, you want fruit straight off the vine or tree. Raw fruit that hasn’t been tampered with will ensure you the most powerful smoothie punch.
Some of the most common fruits found in smoothies include bananas, strawberries, and blueberries. But don’t let this keep you from getting creative. No matter what your favorite fruit is, you can toss it in the blender for a delightful, flavorful smoothie. From cantaloupe and mango to pineapple, raspberry, and melon, you can include any fruit you can find in your smoothie concoction.
Want the thickest, most delicious smoothie possible? Toss the fruits you plan to use for a smoothie in the freezer before you go to bed. In the morning, toss them in the blender. It’s a simple, yet effective way to get the thick smoothie you want.
Building Block: Juice
Once you’ve got your fruits picked out, you’ll need to find a complementary juice. As with the fruit choices, there is one juice that is picked much more often than the others: orange juice. However, you can toss in whatever type of juice you want to spice up your smoothie.
For variations on your favorite smoothie, give apple juice, grape juice, or cranberry juice a shot. Each different juice will affect the consistency, thickness, and flavor of your smoothie, so keep trying out juices until you find the perfect flavor for your pallet.
Building Block: Yogurt
When you have lots of different fruits and flavors, you’ll probably want something to pull them all together into one cohesive whole. Enter stage left: yogurt. Low-fat or fat-free is the best choice, and since most yogurt falls into one of these categories, it is also an easy choice to find.
With the right amount of yogurt in the mix, your smoothie will go from a yummy treat to a must-have each and every day. While you’ll probably rely on vanilla yogurt for most of your smoothies, using strawberry, strawberry banana, blueberry, or other flavors will enhance your smoothie instantly!
Wake Up and Smell the Smoothie
Need a better way to get your day started? Get your morning off right with this easy-to-make Wake-Up Smoothie recipe.
Yields: 3 servings, 1 cup each
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups orange juice (go for calcium-fortified for added benefit)
- 1 banana
- 1 1/4 cups frozen berries of your choice (good options include raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and/or strawberries)
- 1/2 cup low-fat silken tofu or low-fat plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon sugar or Splenda Granular (optional way to add flavor that causes the smoothie to be a tiny bit less healthy)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients and put in a blender. Cover and blend until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Serve immediately. Smile.
Nutritional Information Per Serving: 139 calories; 2 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat, 0 grams monosaturated fat, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 28 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams protein, 4 grams fiber, 19 milligrams sodium, 421 milligrams potassium.
