Fitness Facts, Exercise Extras, and the Truth about Metabolism

Stretching and Injury Prevention . One of the best ways to "treat your muscles with care" is to stretch after every cardio or weight workout.

NO COLD STRETCHING. No matter how many races we attend or events we sponsor at the gym, we continue to see participants stretching before the race without any kind of warm up. Imagine finding a rubber band outside in 30 degree weather. Stretch it, and what do you think will happen? It's very likely that the rubber band will break or at least show tears in the fiber. Your muscles, tendons, and ligaments are similar to a rubber band. If you stretch them BEFORE you get the blood flowing, you risk injury. The best way to warm up is with a gentle walk or ride being careful to allow your body to warm up slowly.

Stretch AFTER you've completed your workout and set aside at least 10 minutes for a proper stretching routine. Focus on individual muscle groups and stretch each muscle within that group for about 15 seconds (i.e. legs - quads, calves, hamstrings, hip flexors). No bouncing or pulling - just stretch and hold.

DID YOU KNOW?

Muscle is 3 times more efficient at burning calories than fat?  A pound of muscle will burn six calories at rest while a pound of
fat will burn only 2 calories.

Changing your workout routine will SHOCK your body into burning more calories.  People who do the same workout over and over again for weeks or even months at a time are just maintaining their fitness.  Without change, your body has no challenge to overcome, and as a result, will not increase fitness.

Heart rate (Zone) training can help you lose weight and become more fit. Using a heart rate monitor to track your fitness is one of the best ways to train and can help you lose weight by challenging your heart to work harder and smarter.  Watch the calendar for heart rate training workshops this spring.

Muscle also helps maintain bone density, structural balance, and overall nutrition throughout your entire body. Human beings store nutrients in muscle tissue, so it's important to maintain as much lean muscle tissue as possible.

If you want to lose weight, stop eating at least 2 hours before bed. It's tough for your body to burn calories when it is inactive.

A Spinning class will burn 500-700 calories.
A Rowing class will burn 400-600 calories.
A 45 minute workout on the Summit Trainer will burn 400-600 calories.

To get the best weight workout, SLOW DOWN.  Each repetition should last five seconds on the contraction and five seconds on the release.

FOOD. Hey! If you want to lose weight, and you feel like you are exercising during every spare moment without results, there's only one culprit left - it's probably your food and/or beverage consumption and the timing of both. Try flip-flopping the bulk of your calories so that by 5 or 6 pm, you are on the calorie "down-low." In other words eat a BIG breakfast, a reasonable, nutritious lunch, and a light dinner, and don't eat at least two hours before bed.

BMR! Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the number that helps you determine how many calories you need per day for survival. That's BEFORE working out. Your personal BMR is the minimum number of calories your body needs to sustain life at rest. Once you know and understand this number, you can design a true fitness program that incorporates exercise and nutrition.

Check out this BMR calculator and input your information. Once you have your number, you then have a baseline to build upon. Need more explanation? Just drop us an email.

DO YOU HAVE A FITNESS QUESTION?  EMAIL US WITH YOUR QUESTION AND WE'LL POST THE ANSWER IN THIS SECTION OF OUR WEBSITE.