Move More Every Day!

• Get moving! Research shows that just two 5-minute walks each day will get you started in the right direction if you have not been active in a while.
• Decide on a personal fitness goal and write it down. Start at 10 minutes each day, and progress to 30-45 minutes each day. 
• Choose an activity that fits into your lifestyle. That way, you’re more likely to stick to it. IF you are a person that believes you should only run when being chased – then I would not recommend a running program for you!
• Plan for inefficiency so you can fit more activity into your day. Take your clean laundry upstairs in several batches instead of one. Making one trip for each person’s room will get your heart pumping.
• Wear a reliable pedometer for one week to establish a baseline value for the number of steps you take daily. Then try to add about 250 steps each day. Remember, each step counts toward your goal.
• Use simple checkpoints to measure your success. For example, ask yourself how much less time it took you today than last week to swim a lap or walk around the block.
• Find a friend who can be an accountability partner to join you in your activity and keep you going when you’re tempted to skip a session. People who exercise with a friend or partner are 50% more likely to still be exercising a year from now.
• Add variety to your fitness plan to help yourself stay motivated and make your activity program more fun.
• Set aside a 30-minute block of time each day that you can devote to your activity plan without being interrupted. Make physical fitness a priority in your life.
• People who exercise first thing in the morning are 50% more likely to be doing it 5 years from now!
• Monitor your progress and reassess every six weeks.  Be sure to change up your routine.  Your body adapts to the changes so it is important to change it up to keep making progress.

Reference:  American Heart Association No-Fad Diet: A Personal Plan for Healthy Weight Loss, Copyright © 2005 by the American Heart Association.

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Work Out Smarter, Not Longer!

Work Out Smarter, Not Longer!

Along with teaching good eating habits, AllyFitness is all about efficiency. Our programs are all about teaching you how to get the most from your workout in two ways.  First, you don’t have to spend endless hours in a gym to reach your fitness goals (we all have lives to live, right?).  Studies show shorter, more intense workouts can maximize your results even better.  Second, these programs train your body to keep burning calories at a higher rate long after your workout is over. The way these two goals are met is through metabolic training.

What is Metabolic Training?
Metabolic training is a way of working out that increases the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) - a.k.a. the after-burn!  After-burn elevates the metabolism after exercise.  New studies indicate you can keep the after-burn effect going up to 24 to 48 hours after high intensity training.   The research basically states high intensity resistance training (85% of maximum effort) increases EPOC significantly when compared to low intensity training.  What does this mean for you?  If you perform circuit weight training using a weight that challenges you at a high intensity, you will increase the EPOC and burn more FAT– which is what we want!  Preserve the muscle, burn the fat!  Working at higher intensity levels also reduces the workout time.LADIES – do not be afraid to lift heavy weight.  You need to work out with weights that challenge you.

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What Causes Muscle Soreness?

DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) describes the muscle pain, muscle soreness or muscle stiffness that occurs in the day or two after exercise. This muscle soreness is most frequently felt when you begin a new exercise program, change your exercise routine, or significantly increase the duration or intensity of your exercise routine.
Delayed onset muscle soreness is a normal response to exertion and is part of an adaptation process that leads to greater stamina and strength as the muscles recover and grow.

The delayed muscle soreness of DOMS is generally at its worst within the first 2 days following a new, intense activity and slowly subsides over the next few days.

What Causes Muscle Soreness After Exercise?
Delayed onset muscle soreness is thought to be a result of microscopic tearing of the muscle fibers. The amount of soreness depends on how hard and how long you exercise and what type of exercise you do. Any movement you aren't used to can lead to DOMS, but eccentric muscle contractions cause the most soreness.

Examples of eccentric muscle contractions include going down stairs, running downhill, lowering weights and the downward motion of squats and push-ups. In addition to small muscle tears there can be associated swelling in a muscle which may contribute to soreness and cause temporary weight gain.

Active recovery is a great way to treat DOMS an speed up recovery. Active recovery includes walking, hiking, biking, or other activities. Be sure to do these activities at easy to moderate levels when treating DOMS. Easy to moderate activity will help blood flow to the areas of soreness which helps the soreness subside. Drinking plenty of water is also recommended.

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Build Muscle - Burn Fat

My philosophy for getting fit - we want to be fit, healthy and happy, not live at the gym or be gym rats.  So……..how do you do that?

Metabolism is the sum of all chemical processes that take place in the human body to sustain life. Though metabolic rate is largely determined by genetics, there are various ways to increase metabolic rate (the speed of your metabolism) through exercise, nutrition, and supplementation.

Old school philosophy- Performing daily body part workouts – or upper / lower body splits.  If you are a body builder or competitor, this is what you do.   The rest of us, not so much.  The reality is that training your whole body more frequently will result in bigger strength and muscle gain, greater fat loss, and more metabolic boosts than training each muscle group once per week– and the science supports this.  Plus it is much more time efficient!  My clients are busy and have busy lives.  I design programs that work and allow you to still have time for your families, hobbies, etc.

It’s important to understand the more muscle you have the greater your resting metabolic rate (RMR). Your RMR is the total number of calories you burn every day regardless of activity and adding several pounds of lean muscle mass will result in an additional daily calorie burn of up to several hundred extra calories per day. This translates into a fat-smashing snowball effect over the course of weeks, months, and years.

Work out smarter - not longer!

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