Trainer Lady Blog

Your brain on exercise: Check this out!

- Fit people are better able to focus

- 30 minutes on a treadmill helped students solve math problems up to 10% more   effectively

- Taking a walk in a natural setting soothes anxiety and improves working-memory performance

- For every flight of stairs climbed daily, brain age decreases significantly

- Moderate cardiovascular exercise boosts the hippocampus - the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning

- Endurance training (long periods of exercise) helps the brain to create new neurons that enhance plasticity and maintain memory and cognitive skills

Exercise Myths that just don’t die:

Unused muscle turns to fat - if you stop lifting weights, muscles shrink.  Lack of regular exercise coupled with poor eating habits is a recipe for fat storage.

Exercising in the “fat burning zone” (i.e. At lower rather than highter intensities) is best for fat loss - studies show that alternating high-intensity with active recovery burned more fat in 20 minutes than exercise at a moderate pace for 40 minutes.  The more intense the workout, the more calories are burned during and after exercise.

Crunches carve the core - for that six-pack to be revealed, the fatty layer covering it must burn away.  One study found that 6 weeks of abdominal training was not enough on it’s own to reduce belly fat.  Food choices and cardiovascular exercise have to be a part of reducing the fatty layer.

Exercise alone can overcome poor eating habits - An average person would have to run 6-7 miles to burn off the 750 calories in a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with cheese. 

Preworkout stretching reduces injury risk - postworkout stretches have been shown to be most effective as your muscles are warm and more pliable.

Now for that app - Charity Miles (charitymiles.org).  Raise money for one of 28 charities every time your walk, run or cycle with this app funded by corporate partners Timex Sports and Humana, among others.  It tracks your distance and donates 25 cents for every mile you walk or run, or 10 cents for each mile you bike.  Exercise - the gift that keeps on giving - now to you AND others!! 

TIME TO SAVE MONEY ON A GARDENER???

 Gardening can cultivate fitness along with plants.  Here in So CA, spring has sprung, so I wanted to share some tips with you as you are coaxing blooms out of your hibernating yard.

 We all know that regular physical activity reduces the risk of many diseases.  But did you know that gardening can provide the same benefits as other types of physical activity?

  - Raking is like using a rowing machine.

  - Turning a compost pile is like lifting weights (yes, we have a compost pile!)

  - Carry a gallon sprinkling can of water in each hand and you’ve got 8 lb dumbells.

  - Pushing a lawnmower is like walking on a treadmill, only much more interesting and rewarding. 

 Stress good posture and balance while working - -  kneel instead of stooping, lift with bent knees and a straight back, and hold in your abdominals with every movement.  

 Enjoy the outdoors, drink in the spring sunshine (with your sunscreen on), plant flowers, and maybe start an easy herb garden in containers.  Mental health is just as important as physical activity for our well-being!

Although research shows that lower intensity exercise uses a larger percentage of fat as fuel compared to higher intensity exercise, low intensity does not burn as many calories.  Consequently, less fat and body weight loss result.  Gradually   increasing the intensity of your exercise will increase your caloric deficit and keep your metabolism elevated even after your workout - adding more calories to your deficit!  Even if you only have 20 minutes - make it count!  Breathing hard and sweating are good indicators of your high intensity exertion.  Remember this - “SHORTER=HARDER”

If the benefits of regular physical activity could be put into a pill, it would be the most widely prescribed and most beneficial of all medications.  Unfortunately, that pill doesn't exist.  Remember - ANY movement is better than none!