Fascinating Fitness Facts

I've compiled a list of fitness and nutrition related facts that I thought would be fun:

• Getting in your fruits and veggies can help the body produce its own form of Aspirin. After a study done by the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, participants who ate fruit and vegetables containing benzoic acid, could produce their own salicyclic acid. This is the main ingredient in aspirin that makes aspirin an anti-inflammatory pain reliever. 
•  Watching yourself in a mirror while running on a treadmill, will make your workout go faster. 
• Garlic can help cure athlete’s foot.
• Using a diary for weight-loss purposes can double a person’s weight loss efforts. (I told you!!!)
• Walking either in water, against the wind, or wearing a backpack burns approximately 50 more calories an hour. 
• Regular exercise can lower a women’s cancer risk, but only if she is getting an efficient amount of sleep. 
• After a study done at Cornell University, researchers found that people who enter their homes through an entry way that is close to the kitchen tend to eat 15% more than those who enter farther away from the kitchen.
• There is no difference between stronger, larger, and firmer muscles. Those three go hand in hand. It is simply untrue that one kind of exercise will build a different kind of muscle than another. The only three variables you can influence with any type of exercise are: muscle mass, muscle shape, and the amount of body fat.
• Each pound of muscle (1 pound = 0.45 kilograms) burns 75-100 calories every day simply by being.
• A pound of body fat stores 3500 calories.
• Your muscles do not grow during exercise. Exercise is only the stimulus. The body strengthens the muscles while you are resting.
• The amount of rest needed in order for muscles to grow depends on their current size. The larger it is, the more it needs to rest. Gym beginners should rest at least two days between exercise. After a year in the gym you should probably rest three days. And so on. By exercising every day you are hurting your body and retarding muscle growth!
• A dehydration of 2% of your water volume can result in a decrease of muscular performance of 20-30%
• When fasting for a long period (several days in a row, without eating anything), 30% of the weight loss is muscle loss
•  Full body training maximizes hormonal response and therefore muscle development
• A caffeine intake of 13 mg per kg of body mass can increase your peak force by about 50% (a cup of coffee contains 100/200 mg)
• Fast music during effort makes you burn more calories.
• There is only one type of exercise that requires you hold your breath in order to accomplish the exercise. What is it? It's swimming underwater.
• If you had every single muscle in your body work together at the same time, you could lift about 50,000 pounds.
• If you are not a regular exerciser, by the time you are 65 you may experience as much as an 80% decrease in your muscle strength.
• The best way to judge whether or not you are exercising at too high of an intensity is to see whether or not you can carry on a conversation. If you can't, you may want to back off of the intensity just a little until you can.
• Bodies are creatures of habit. The more you exercise, the more your body learns to burn fat rather than storing it.
• Regular exercise is linked to better sex, because it can improve body image, energy, self-esteem and overall fitness (just so you know!)
• If you're always in a bad mood, then getting fit just may help. Regular exercise can enhance mood and overall well-being.
• The top three factors that determine whether or not you will stick to your exercise routine include having support, finding a workout that you like and knowing what you're doing. Your recipe for fitness success just may be working out with a buddy doing something you love after having received formal education on how to do it.
• If you have an inactive spouse, chances are that you will be inactive, too.
• In spite of what you may have read, there is no "best time to exercise." It turns out that the best time to exercise is when it works for you.
• Regular exercise can reduce the signs and symptoms of PMS.
• Visualization can help to improve your workout. By visualizing yourself completing the exercise before you actually perform it, then you will be able to perform the exercise with more intensity and effectiveness.
• Visualization of specific exercise actually causes the muscle synapses to fire as if you were performing the exercise. Does this mean that you can get all of your exercise in your mind? Not necessarily, but visualization can be a valuable part of your workout.
• People who cross-train with a variety of exercise are more fit and less injury-prone than those who exercise using only one or two exercise modalities
• For every 25 pounds of excess weight, your body needs to pump blood through an extra 5,000 miles of blood vessels.
• It takes 70 muscles to speak a single word.
• Your body has more than 650 muscles.
• Blood circulates through your body very quickly. The average time it takes for your blood to make the entire circuit is 23 seconds.

Have fun, be fit!
Cassandra Wyzik
www.FitToYouBrevard.com

Priorities

I saw this picture the other day and was like wow, that is really true. It got me thinking about the reasons we don't work out. It's not usually because we don't think we will feel better if we do but because we have so many other things that take priority over our workouts. I do this for a living and it can be very trying to find the time and motivation to exercise at times. I have a 3 year old, 3 part time jobs, and several time consuming hobbies (that usually end up by the wayside more or less) so I get it. 

I would like to encourage you, however, to consider the payoff of our other priorities over exercising. Let's take a few priorities into account: kids, work, doing nothing at all, going out with friends, etc. These are just a few examples, but I think you'll get my point. The fact is, that without our health and ability to get through the day (physically and mentally) nothing else matters. If you disagree I'd love to hear what you think so please comment, but I truly believe "the greatest wealth is health". 

Here are things that would be majorly affected if I never exercised and my health declined, as would inevitably happen: ability to travel, to take care of child, to work, to move about easily, to take care of myself, to drive a car, to feel good, to be productive, paying for medical bills, suffering from sleep problems, etc, etc, the list goes on and on. The point I want to get to (brevity is not my strong suit) is that EVERYTHING is affected if your health declines. Exercise is not quite a panacea but it is VERY helpful to so many things that many of us suffer from every day. Maybe you're watching someone else suffer. 

Exercise (and nutrition, of course) are cornerstones to health. You simply cannot bury your head in the sand and pretend you'll be okay, because you won't. Maybe you have good genetics and it'll work out for you for awhile, but it's all only delaying the inevitable. Do something good for you body every day. It is the only place you HAVE to live and it can be a miserable place if it's not doing well. It will make every single other thing in your life obsolete and cause immense suffering if you do not do something to make your body a healthier place. You are not a garbage can, don't feed yourself garbage. You are not a car, don't park yourself in one place and forget you're there.

GET UP AND MOVE TODAY!

Cassandra Wyzik

B.S. - ACSM Certified Personal Trainer

www.FitToYouBrevard.com

The importance of being earnest

Well? Truth time, are you? The fact is that no amount of burying your head in the sand is going to make it go away. Every time you're putting something bad into your body you're reducing your quality of life and maybe even the length of your life. It comes down to priorities. Is that momentary high you're getting from your food choices worth sacrificing literally everything else? I don't want to depress you, but impress upon you the importance of your food choices.

I like to think of it this way. Say doing something unhealthy is a -1 and doing something good for you is a +1. Easy enough. Let's look a little closer.

Let's say you do something unhealthy for yourself instead of something healthy, it would look like this:

-1 - (+1) = -2

You double the effect every time you do something unhealthy for yourself because you also at the same take away something healthy for you.

Let's say you do something healthy for yourself instead of something unhealthy:

+1 - (-1) = +2

You've doubled the effect of doing something good for yourself and simultaneously taking away something bad you would have done instead.

It's simple math and it adds up. What do you want your life to equal?

Cassandra Wyzik

B.S. - ACSM Certified Personal Trainer

www.FitToYouBrevard.com

Be S.M.A.R.T.!

Setting goals doesn't have to be brain surgery, in fact, we have this handy acronym to help:

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic/Relevent
T = Timely

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. How can you reach a goal if you don't know what it is? To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

Who: Who is involved?
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Where: Identify a location.
When: Establish a time frame.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and do intervals on the treadmill by myself at 10 am on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so I can go up the stairs at work without getting tired.” See the difference?

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Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as:

How much?
How many?
How will I know when it is accomplished?

If you're trying to lose weight, maybe you'll use body circumference measurements to know when you've lost inches.

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Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.You can make nearly any goal obtainable by setting up baby steps to measure your progress along the way.

Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

An attainable goal will usually answer the question:
How can the goal be accomplished?
If you don't have the money, how do you get it or attain your goal without it? If you don't have the time, how do you make it?

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Realistic/Relevent- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force.  Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.
To be relevent your goal needs to represent something you want. "Make 50 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before 2 pm" might be specific, timely, attainable, and measurable, but is that going to help you lose 5 pounds of fat?
A realistic/relevant goal can answer yes to these questions:
Does this seem worthwhile?
Can I realistically carry out my goal in the time alotted?
Does this match my wants/needs?

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Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal. This part of the S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria is intended to prevent goals from being overtaken by the day-to-day crises that invariably arise.

A time-bound goal will usually answer the question:
When?
What can I do 6 months from now?
What can I do 6 weeks from now?
What can I do today?

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So write yourself a S.M.A.R.T. goal now:

"I will __________________________ (with ___________________)
                           (what)                                           (who-optional)

at _________________________ at ________ on ______________
                      (where)                      (when, time)       (when, days)

in order to ______________________________________________"
                                                   (why)

So for example, my goal right now is to increase the flexibility of my adductor muscles so I can do easier and better kicks for my Jujutsu class. So my goal will be:

"I will stretch my adductors (by myself) at the dojo at 5:30 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and at my house after I exercise on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (time varies) in order to increase the flexibility of my adductors so I can do wheel kicks at head level in Jujutsu."

You can get as specific as you want with this. My goal above is pretty darn specific and as a result it will be easy for me to know exactly what to do and know that my goal WILL be obtained. When I get flexible enough that my wheel kick reaches head level, I'll know I made it. I should mention that this S.M.A.R.T. framework works for every kind of goal, not just fitness goals.

Happy goal setting!
Cassandra Wyzik
B.S. - ACSM Certified Personal Trainer
www.FitToYouBrevard.com

Diet Tracking

I would just like to take a moment to stress AGAIN how important tracking your diet is if you're trying to attain any kind of goal. Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or maintain your weight, you need to know what's going into your body. Maybe you have the perfect diet and you eat the same perfect things every single day so tracking your diet isn't for you. No? I didn't think so, because that's not even close to realistic, but tracking your diet is!

There are many diet tracking Apps you can get for your phone that make life so much better. My favorite is My Fitness Pal which I have personally used since August 31, 2011. There are many others, including the ones found HERE, though I can't figure out why My Fitness Pal isn't on there, because it's amazing.

Still not convinced? Well first you need to identify your goal and level of motivation to achieve it.

Goal: Weight loss (good)...lose 15 pounds of fat (better, more specific)
Motivation: I guess it would be nice to look skinnier (vague, not very motivating)...I want to live longer and healthier so I can be there for my children and grandchildren (good! Will be harder to fail)

Goal: Gain muscle (good)....gain 5 pounds of muscle (better!)
Motivation: To look better (maybe ok)....to be strong enough to pick up my child every day (more motivating!)

Diet Tracking: Well it's simple math:
Calories in = Calories out --> weight stays the same
Calories in < Calories out --> lose weight (fat loss)
Calories in > Calories out --> gain weight (muscle gain)

But what if your equation looks like this:
Calories in ??? Calories out
Do you see my point? My Fitness Pal is FREE and easy to use, stop with the excuses! No matter what your goal is, you need to know what's going in and what is being burned off.

More on goal setting next post!
Cassandra Wyzik
B.S. - ACSM Certified Personal Trainer
www.FitToYouBrevard.com

go APE!

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started". -Mark Twain

I can't think of a truer statement! We spend a lot of time being somewhere we don't want to be. Maybe you don't particularly love your job and don't really want to be there. Perhaps wherever you live isn't so ideal or it's a mess or there is something else taking away from your enjoyment of it so you don't really want to be there. Then there's the one place you can't leave, your body. How many of you don't want to be in your own body? How often? Aren't you tired of feeling that way?

The sooner you can identify a specific issue, the sooner you can come up with a game plan to fix it. Becoming aware of the issue and the specifics of that issue is the first step. Identify what you want to fix. Maybe it's the fact that you can't scuttle up the stairs at work without losing breath. Maybe getting down and up from a chair is a challenge for you. Perhaps you want more energy and are tired of being tired! Become aware of how these things make you feel, how it affects your life, and how much you want to change it.

Step two is to think about ways to fix these things. We're talking about exercise and nutrition on this blog, so let's say that it's the being winded after going up a flight of stairs that's your issue. How do we fix it? Well, you say to yourself, I guess I don't do as much cardio exercise as I should, boom, start there! Take the stairs every day, go up and down on your lunch break, add jogging intervals to your walking routine, whatever you can do to address the issue.  Make a plan!

So now you identified the problem by gaining awareness, you created a plan of action, now you need to enforce it. Write what you plan to do on your calendar as though it is an appointment, tell others about it so they can hold you accountable, and otherwise make the time to carry out your plan. Make sure your plan is reasonable or else it won't happen. Make sure you follow up with yourself and friends, if you told them of your plans, so you can turn these new activities into habits.

So again those steps are:
Awareness
Planning
Enforcement
or, you've got it, APE (I'm a sucker for a silly acronym).

Specific example:
Awareness - It really makes me feel bad about myself that I can't lift this box up off the floor. Come to think of it, my lacking strength affects a lot in my day to day life. I really want to get stronger so I can do more things.

Planning - I'm going to start weight lifting 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6 pm after work. I'll do exercises to make my whole body stronger and maybe I'll even hire a trainer so I know I'm going about it the right way.

Enforcement - I told my best friend of my plans so she's going to be disappointed in me if I don't do what I say. I hired a trainer to be sure I don't back out of my plans and to make sure I'm not just making matters worse by doing it wrong. I'll sign up for my sessions a month at a time so I have to stick with it.

Ta da! Now go bananas!
Cassandra Wyzik
www.FitToYouBrevard.com

Benefits of Weight Training

Many don't totally "get" the benefits of weight training. It's so much more than just "toning up" or getting more muscular. There are countless ways adding weight training to your life will positively affect you, your family, and your life as a whole. Here is a basic list of what you can expect:

-Increases HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease LDL (bad cholesterol).
-Reduces risk of diabetes and insulin needs.
-Lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
-Lower high blood pressure.
-Lowers risk of breast cancer - reduces high estrogen levels linked to the disease.
-Decreases or minimizes risk of osteoporosis by building bone mass.
-Reduces symptoms of PMS
-Reduces stress and anxiety.
-Decreases colds and illness. -Increased muscle strength, power, endurance and size with enhanced performance of everyday tasks. --You will be able to do everyday tasks like lifting, carrying, and walking up stairs with greater ease.
-By working the muscles through a full range of motion, weight training can improve your overall body flexibility. Increased flexibility reduces the risk of muscle pulls and back pain
-Strong muscles, tendons, and ligaments are less likely to give way under stress and are less likely to be injured. Increased bone density and strength reduces back and knee pain by building muscle around these areas.
-Boosted metabolism. The more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn all the time and your metabolism remains elevated for up to 48 hours after a weight training session.
-The conditioning effect will result in firmer and better-defined muscles.
-The way you sit and stand are influenced by the health of a network of neck, shoulder, back, hip and abdominal muscles. Stronger muscles can help you stand and sit straighter and more comfortably.
-You may notice improved balance and stability.
-As you begin to notice the positive physical changes in your body and develop a regular exercise routine, your ability to handle stress effectively will improve.
-Weight training allows you to sleep better, i.e., fall asleep quicker and sleep deeper.
-Clinical studies have shown regular exercise to be one of the three best tools for effective stress management.

If these reasons and more aren't enough to get you into a program then I don't know what will!

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." -Jim Ryan

Cassandra Wyzik
B.S. - ACSM Certified Personal Trainer
Juice Plus+ Distributor
www.FitToYouBrevard.com
www.CWyzikJuicePlus.com

Training the Triceps

Lots of people want that special definition and look certain muscles give them when properly developed. My personal favorite and the favorite of many is the triceps muscle. I'm going to tell you the trainer gold behind training this muscle.

1) If you have excess body fat, you won't see your muscles underneath. This is a discussion for another day, so I'm going to assume you're at a lower level of body fat, or will be one day, and how to now get your triceps to look the way you want.

2) Train your triceps with at least 48 hours in between session at least twice a week, preferably three. This is the guideline for exercising every muscle group, but it had to be said.

3) The main exercise you should focus on for the triceps is the overhead triceps extension. It's the best in my opinion and the research backs that.

4) The triceps has three heads: the medial head, lateral head, and long head. Training the triceps isn't about doing different exercises to train each of the heads, it's all about intensity. To best train the medial head, stick to a weight you can only lift properly about 10-12 times, for the lateral head stick to 8-10 reps, and for the long head stick to a weight you can lift properly 4-6 times.  Usually a 5-10 pound difference in weight is enough to satisfy this. So for example, you could do an overhead tricep extension 12 times with a 15 pound weight, 8 times with a 20 pound weight, and 5 times with a 25 pound weight.

5) Make sure you rest 30 seconds to 2 minutes in between sets.

There you have it! Your guide to amazing triceps! It takes a few weeks to start seeing results, but if you stick to these guidelines, you'll have the triceps you've always wanted.

Happy training!
Cassandra Wyzik
B.S. - ACSM Certified Personal Trainer
www.FitToYouBrevard.com