Mindset

At one time or another, most people don’t feel like working out. It often happens early, before you see any results, although even seasoned veterans have those times. The difference is that people with more experience usually have techniques to get them going. Setting a big goal and breaking it down into smaller goals you track weekly is one way to boost your enthusiasm. You may not see any difference in your body in the first few weeks, but you’ll see your success on paper. It turns fitness into more of a game.

If you know your reason for getting fit, it’s easier to stick with your program.

Everyone starts a fitness program for different reasons. Some want to build endurance. Others want to build muscles. There’s no right or wrong reason. You need to identify that reason and keep it in the foreground. You can put Post-It notes everywhere or create a vision board and put it where you can see it. Some people hang them on their bedroom wall so it’s the first thing they see in the morning. A vision board is a collage you create with pictures and phrases reflecting your goal.

Find a workout buddy.

You’ll have more incentive to go to the gym if someone is there to meet you. It makes exercising more fun when you’re doing it with a friend. It also pushes you to work harder. Besides holding you accountable, working out with a friend motivates you both. You cheer each other on to victory and call each other out for not pushing hard enough.

Take a picture. It lasts longer.

Creating a photo journey to fitness is both motivating and fun. Your body changes slowly. That makes it hard to notice any improvement. If you take a picture once a week and keep it in a file on your phone, you can compare your new picture with the first one to see how far you’ve come. Share your pictorial journey with a friend.

Identify the reasons you enjoy working out and focus on the positive things. If you dread going to the gym one day, think about how good you feel when you finish. Sometimes, just changing your mindset is all it takes.

• Schedule your workout at the same time each day. Write it in your calendar as an appointment. Maintaining a consistent time can make it a habit. Habits are hard to break.
• When you exercise, focus on each muscle movement. Notice how good it feels to control that movement. See if you can differentiate each muscle as it moves. Feeling more in control of your body helps you stick with your exercise program.
• Note other things besides losing weight or gaining muscle. Track how long it takes to climb stairs or how quickly you finish mental tasks. Regular exercise not only helps your body function better, but it also helps improve your cognitive functioning.

For more information, contact us today at Revolution Training

Most people starting a diet worry about the number of carbs or calories the diet contains. They often cut out grains to reduce calorie or carb count. Some people eliminate grains for digestive issues. Gluten intolerance and celiac disease can be serious issues. Some people have health issues that limit whole grains, while others shouldn’t eat processed grains. People with specific health issues have valid reasons to avoid some grains. There are also reasons to include them in a healthy diet. It’s all about the type of grain you choose.

Mother Nature protects seeds.

Grains are seeds. In nature, the species’ survival, whether plant or animal, rules. Everything to accomplish the goal has been done through centuries of change. Propagation is ensured by scattering seeds so the plants can thrive. Birds or animals eat grains. The hard shell and enzyme inhibitor prolamin, a type of lectin, protects seeds so they travel through the digestive system unscathed until the bird or animal excretes them. When excreted, the seeds are surrounded by waste that acts as fertilizer. If there’s adequate soil and water, it grows. If conditions aren’t right, the enzyme inhibitor prevents the seed from sprouting. That same inhibitor blocks digestive enzymes and interferes with digestion.

Grains contain phytic acid, complex proteins, and lectins.

Phytic acid is an antinutrient. It minimizes the absorption of magnesium, copper, calcium, iron, and zinc. Some contain gluten, which is a complex protein. Gluten is difficult to digest because it combines two proteins that can cause glycation. It leads to AGEs—Advanced Glycation End Products. AGEs increase the risk of diabetes and digestive inflammation. That can lead to intestinal damage or an autoimmune response. Most of today’s wheat is a hybrid containing higher amounts of gluten to give it the stretchiness. Another lectin in grains is agglutinin, a natural pesticide.

It’s all about the processing and type of grain.

If you have gluten intolerance or celiac disease, avoid grains with gluten. If you want to remove phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, or lectins, soak the grain, sprout it, or ferment it before grinding it. For the heart-healthy benefits, choose whole grains. They contain all parts of the grain. These include the bran, germ, and endosperm. The bran is fiber. The germ has all the nutrients. Highly processed grain only contains the endosperm containing starch, a small amount of protein, and a bit of oil.

• Seeds found that were thousands of years old. They were still viable. They were in sealed containers in the pyramids and sprouted once watered. That’s proof the enzyme inhibitors did their job.
• White flour is bleached and contains additives that extend its shelf life. Most foods containing white flour have empty calories from the flour and added sugar. Both increase health risks.
• People with gluten intolerance can eat grains without gluten. These include millet, amaranth, oatmeal, sorghum, brown rice, barley, and kamut.
• Sprouted grain has more folate, fiber, beneficial amino acids, and polyphenols are available. Dry and grind them to create a more nutritious flour.

For more information, contact us today at Revolution Training

Most people want a great-looking body. That takes sculpting and toning. There are many types of exercise. Muscle tone is not special. Every time you exercise, you help do it. Muscle tone is a continuous partial contraction of the muscle. It’s the muscle resistance to stretch when in a resting state and the muscle stiffness. Your body composition and the amount of muscle mass you have determines how it looks. When you have weak muscles with very little mass and are covered with a layer of fat, you won’t have a sculpted appearance. Sculpting your body takes it a step further to refine the appearance of each muscle group by reducing fat and increasing muscle.

Toned muscles aren’t necessarily bulky muscles.

Women often worry that they’ll build too much bulk doing strength training. That’s never a problem if you’re doing a traditional exercise program. You may see women bodybuilders with a lot of bulk, but that takes a special and rigorous exercise plan, a special diet, and often some chemical intervention. Hormones prevent women from building muscle mass. It’s why men build muscle so much faster.

Do strength training exercises but focus on more repetitions and lighter weights.

When building strength, you focus more on fewer reps and progressive overloading. You may use lighter weights and more repetitions to tone muscles. For sculpting, isolation exercises are necessary to ensure you work each muscle to get the effect you want. Doing compound exercises works muscles in a general area. Doing isolation exercises works a specific muscle. A compound exercise like chin-ups tones and builds the upper body. Tricep kickbacks concentrate the effort on one muscle to help sculpt the body.

When you tone your muscles, it also improves your health.

Besides looking great, good muscle tone improves your health. It helps you with posture, which improves breathing, reduces backaches and headaches, and improves body composition by reducing fat and increasing muscle. You’ll improve your stamina and energy. It also reduces your potential for obesity and the risk of serious conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Sculpting your body takes exercise a step further. It’s about working toward a more perfect appearance.

• There are about 750 named skeletal muscles. They’re almost half your body weight. Each has nerves, blood vessels, and tendons. Each muscle responds better to some exercises than others. That plays a role in sculpting muscles.
• Boxing training tones and sculpts the body. You burn fat as you build muscle tissue. The more you train, the better you’ll look. You’ll also have more energy, which also makes you look attractive.
• Both toning and sculpting involve burning calories and building muscles. It takes strength training and building endurance. Adapting your workout to circuit training or HIIT—high intensity interval training—boosts your success.
• Our trainers help you get fit, excel in the ring, look and feel your best, and achieve your fitness goals. We offer yoga for toning and sculpting. It gives your body a lean, sinewy, muscular appearance. Boxing training tones and strengthens.

For more information, contact us today at Revolution Training