Fitness Friday: H3 Summer Biking Guide

Biking is awesome exercise but you should be properly prepared before you start pedaling this summer. Use these tips and benefits so you can bike like a pro!



1. Pre-ride Checklist:

• Check your tire pressure.


• Seat Height - when standing on the ground, your seat should be at your hip height. When sitting on your bike, the leg which is extended should have a soft knee (not completely straight but not too bent either).


• Grab your helmet.


• Fill your water bottle to stay hydrated.


• Make sure you have a blinker/reflector if you’re riding at night.


• Wear bright/neon clothing on dark or rainy days.


• Plan your route before you start riding.


• Wearing headphones/earbuds is highly not recommended.

2. Sitting Properly:

• Practice good posture - sit up straight and remember to not slump over the handle bars.


• Knees should bend with your knee caps facing forward, not out to the sides.


• Knees should never hyperextend, always keep a slight bend at full extension.

3. Riding Etiquette:

• Ride in the same direction of traffic.


• If there is a bike lane, USE IT.


• Use signals to indicate turns and stops.


• Follow all traffic signals.


• Always pass on the left, and verbally communicate when passing: “coming up on your left” or “passing on your left”.


• Be predictable. Make drivers, other bikers and pedestrians aware of your actions.


• Give yourself space between other bikers, pedestrians, and cars.

4. Benefits of biking:

• Reduces CO2 emissions.


• Strengthens your quads, hamstrings, calves and abdominals.


• Low impact exercise with less wear and tear on your joints.


• Get great exercise and take some time for yourself while riding to and from work!


• Increase energy AND boost endorphins!


• Biking is a cardio workout, therefore, strengthening the heart and improving oxygen exchange to the whole body.

Get out and RIDE!! Enjoy the fresh air and the beautiful environment around you!

 

Fitness Friday: Fun & Fit - The Beach Body Guide

When the sun's shining and you want to be nowhere else but the beach, try this workout to get some Vitamin D and a banging beach body. Who says you can’t enjoy some sand and sun and get a great workout, too! Check out these lower body, upper body, and core exercises to do while at the beach!

• Legs:

1. Side Leg lifts (Outer Thigh):

Holding on to a beach chair, lift and lower your leg, keeping your toes pointing in the same direction you are facing.

(Do 3 sets of 20 on each leg)

 



2. Squat (Quad/Glutes):

Sit your butt back to your beach chair and stand right back up. Keeping your knees behind your toes, lower your butt back first and then down to the chair, either sitting all the way down or just tapping the seat and standing back up. Keep your weight on your heels and your chest up as you lower yourself to the chair.

(Do 3 sets of 10)



 

3. Rear Leg Lift (Hamstrings/Glutes):

On hands and knees, extend one leg and extend it straight behind you until it hits the sand. Then lift your leg straight to the sky with your heel pointed up and lower down to the sand.

(Do 3 sets of 20 on each leg)



 

4. Lunge & Knee Balance (Hamstring/Glutes):

Holding a towel overhead, split your stance, keeping both knees at 90 degrees, lower your back knee toward the sand. Push off your front heel to stand up on one leg with a knee lift. Then lower your knee back to lunge position.

(Do 3 sets of 10 on each leg)



 

• Upper Body:

1. Chair dips (Triceps): With finger tips facing you, bend your elbows and lower your bottom close to the chair then extend and push through the palms of your hands. Keep hips close to your hands. To make it more challenging: extend your legs straight and do the same movement.

(Do 3 sets of 10)



 

2. Push-up (Chest): On your mat, place your hands just outside your shoulders and in a plank position - lower yourself toward the towel (an inch above the towel) and push back up to the starting plank position. Modification:  Lower knees to the towel.

(Do 3 sets of 10)



 

• Core:

1. Plank (Abdominals): Holding in the top of a push-up position, create one straight line from your tailbone to your head. Pull your belly button to your spine and keep your hips in line with your spine.

(Do 3-30 to 60 second planks)



 

2. In and outs (Abdominals): Pull both knees together and using a towel for additional support, put the towel behind your hamstrings. Then extend your legs away from you, holding for 2 seconds and then bring your knees back to the chest.

(Do 3 sets of 10)

To make it more challenging: place the towel on top of your legs and then reach overhead as you extend your legs, then return back to starting position.

(Do 3 sets of 10)

What Makes a Habit?

According to Webster, a habit is “a usual way of behaving:  something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way.” A better defined explanation I found in the American Journal of Psychology is “a habit, from the standpoint of psychology, is more or less a fixed way of thinking, willing or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience.”

Typically a person doesn’t notice a habitual behavior because while taking part in the habitual task, a person does not need to be mentally engaged.

Therefore these behavioral patterns are imprinted in our neural pathways, making old habits hard to break and new habits just as hard to form.

However, new habits, specifically healthy habits, are possible to form through repetition. As healthy behaviors are repeated consistently, there is an incremental increase in the link between the motive and the action. This increases the automaticity of the behavior. I have heard many people say that habits are formed by completing a task 21 days in a row. After those 21 days, abracadabra, a habit is formed. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Habits take time, mental dedication, persistence and work to maintain. There are three phases of habit formation: honeymoon, fight thru and second nature.

The honeymoon phase is where it starts. Characterized as the “easy phase,” the habit at this stage is something new, refreshing, and possibly inspired by someone or something. Starting something new gives us that renewed feeling; however, at some point this honeymoon phase must come to an end. The fight thru phase is when inspiration starts to fade and reality sets in. You find yourself struggling between the new positive habit and fighting the old habit which creeps back in. In order to move forward and make it to phase three, you have to fight thru this stage. To help get you to the fight thru, try these techniques.

1. Recognize: It is essential to succeed in stage 2 if you recognize the fight. To move past this stage, you need to enter and openly state you’re in the fight thru stage. Remember every fight thru you win will make the next easier, and every one you lose makes the next one easier to lose. Keep your determination. Push forward.

2. Ask yourself: “How will I feel if I do this?” and “How will I feel if I don’t do this?” Feel the positive emotion in winning the fight thru and the negative in losing. Having an emotional connection brings about a relationship, thus a further commitment to the fight thru.

3. Project your life: Imagine how your life will be like in 5 years if you didn’t make these changes. Make sure you are honest with yourself; let yourself feel what life would be like if the changes are not made.

The final stage is phase three, second nature. Entering this phase, you feel like you are getting into the habit or “getting in the groove.” Once you get to the second nature stage, there are still a few disturbances which could potentially send you back to the fight thru.

1. Discouragement: Fight against negative results which discourage you and your new habitual thinking. Start to think “I can do it” and “this is working.”


2. Disruptions: Be mindful and aware of individual experiences affecting your new pattern, i.e. vacation, illness, weekends and holidays.


3. Success Seduction: Remember to not focus solely on positive results because this could decelerate progress. Gaining great results begins with a great plan and process.

Stages can indeed fluctuate; an experience may send you back to stage two or winning a few fight thru’s may move you to stage three. just remember that great habits are formed daily. Positive habits are not easy and they require time and hard work. Being great requires sacrifice, which may mean doing things that others won’t do or can’t. Positive habits require consistent commitment. Remember Bob’s saying:

“Weight follows behavior, it just takes time.”

Make the commitment to yourself, be dedicated to make it past the fight thru, even though you may go back to the fight many times, each and every time getting stronger and reaching new levels of success.

15 Positive Psychological Effects of Exercise

 

[caption id="attachment_11368" align="alignleft" width="300"] Photo Credit: www.kurzweilai.net[/caption]

We have all heard that exercise releases endorphins, fights anxiety, increases stress resilience, and improves sleep. However, there are additional psychological effects exercise has on the mind. Check out these 15 effects:

1. Escape a Bad Mood: Exercise helps transform a bad mood into a good one. Ever gone for a run after a stressful work day? Chances are you felt better afterward. Usually within five minutes after moderate exercise, you get a mood enhancement effect. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with brain receptors (same receptors that bind some pain medicines) to reduce your perception of pain and trigger a positive feeling.


2. Reduce Anxiety: Both low and moderate intensity exercise has shown to reduce anxiety, however,

doing high intensity exercise, especially in women, has shown to provide the greatest reduction in anxiety.

 Regular workouts are even helpful for people prone to anxiety because it makes them less likely to panic. Exercise in many ways is like exposure treatment; therefore, people learn to associate the symptoms with safety instead of danger.

3. Stress Resilience: Exercise increases concentrations of norepinephrine which can affect the brain’s response to stress. Exercise stops neurons firing in the region of the brain which is stimulated during a stress response. Studies in mice have shown exercise reorganizes the brain by resisting neuron fire and making the brain more resistant to stress.

4. Improved Sleep: Although it’s not necessarily accurate to say exercise makes you more tired, exercise does show to improve sleep over the long term. Moving around five to six hours before bedtime raises the body’s temperature and when your temperature drops back to normal a few hours later; this signals the body that it’s time to sleep.


5. Lower Dementia Risk:

Any type of exercise which gets your heart pumping lowers the risk of dementia.

Regular exercise in midlife is associated with lower levels of cognitive problems, helping to prevent dementia and mild cognitive impairments.


6. Fight Depression: Physical activity extends beyond the mood enhancing short term effects and shows to help alleviate long-term depression. Exercise provides moderate relief and can alleviate symptoms among those depressed and has even worked just as effective as antidepressant pills.


7. Speed Up Your Mind: After just 30 minutes of exercise, your working memory (what’s in your conscious mind right now and what you’re doing with this information) improves. Exercise improves spatial memory by increasing production of cells in the hippocampus (responsible for memory and learning).


8. Reduce Silent Strokes:

Exercise reduces the chance of silent strokes by 40%.

It has to be more than walking to experience these benefits so any moderate movement like jogging, biking, tennis, or swimming are great to get the protective effect.


9. Protect Against Alzheimer’s: Exercise provides a protective effect against Alzheimer’s by helping to produce chemicals which fight the damaging inflammation of the brain. As the most common form of dementia, the brain literally wastes away followed by the body. Alzheimer’s kills off brain cells which cause the brain to shrink, losing important brain functions. Although exercise cannot cure Alzheimer’s, it can help fight against cognitive decline. As mentioned in #7 above, there is a chemical boost in the brain which prevents degeneration of the hippocampus, an imperative part of the brain for memory.


10. Improve Children’s School Performance: Children who engage in more exercise do better in school. Cardiovascular exercise can improve brain performance and a tough workout (high movement and coordination) increases levels of brain-derived protein in the body which is believed to help with decision making, higher thinking, and learning.


11. Stimulate Brain Cell Growth: Connected to cardiovascular exercise, doing cardio can create new brain cells, a process called neurogenesis. Exercise actually helps new brain cells to grow, specifically the brain regions related to memory and learning.


12. Increase Executive Functioning:  Exercise reliably improves executive functioning, such as: switching tasks efficiently, ignoring distractions, and making plans.


13. Prevent Migraines: Although there is fear that exercise may create a migraine, exercise can actually help prevent migraines.

Exercising at least three days a week shows improvements equal to taking the most current anti-migraine drugs.

14. Stop Smoking: Taking a brisk walk or doing a similar exercise can help someone give up smoking. Taking that walk creates an experience of less stress, less anxiety, and fewer withdrawal symptoms and helps by making the cigarette seem less attractive.


15. Reduce Motivation to Eat: Contrary to what is believed (eating more after exercise to replace lost calories) after exercise, people have lower motivation to eat food. Exercise helps to suppress hunger by decreasing the body’s levels of ghrelin (hormone that stimulates appetite). Additionally, exercising in the morning makes us more health focused for the day, choosing healthier food and movement options throughout our day.

Exercising has several positive effects which go beyond the gym. Which effects could you benefit from by exercising every day?

At–Home Gym: Our Fave Fitness Products

The benefit of having a home gym is the home gym fits in your schedule. Sometimes new appointments show up, meetings go long, kids need to be taken here and there, and getting yourself to the gym seems impossible. But when you have fitness equipment at home, you can save time, money spent on memberships you don’t use, have privacy within your own home, and customize your own workout. Check out these top fitness products which are great for creating an at-home gym.

[caption id="attachment_11279" align="alignleft" width="289"] Photo Credit: www.workoutyourdiet.com[/caption]

 

1. Resistance Band ($5-$15): This is such a great and simple tool to use. A band can be used for a full body resistance training workout. From upper body to lower body to core, bands challenge the muscles to not only contract but also lengthen in the negative part of the movement (for instance the eccentric (down) movement of a bicep curl). Each color band represents a different resistance. Starting with the least to heaviest resistance the colors go: yellow, green, red, blue, purple, and black. This is also a wonderful tool to use while traveling as well. Weighs almost nothing and can be folded up to fit in any small space of your suitcase.

 

 

 

[caption id="attachment_11278" align="alignleft" width="300"] Photo Credit: www.racerxvt.com[/caption]

2. TRX-Suspension Trainer ($125-$185): Similar to a resistance band, however allows for more range of motion and a better use of supported body weight. A TRX strap can be used for a full body weight training workout. The TRX leverages gravity and your bodyweight, providing greater performance and functionality over using large exercise machines (which costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars). You're in control of how much you want to challenge yourself because you can simply adjust your body position to add or decrease resistance. Also the TRX is great for travelling because of its foldable and light qualities.

[caption id="attachment_11271" align="alignleft" width="98"] Photo Credit: www.everythingyoga.com[/caption]

 

3. Mat ($10-$25): A mat is a very simple product that can be used for many exercises. A mat provides support for your knees, hands, and back when doing floor exercises and also assists you doing Pilates and Yoga at home as well. Consider the thickness of your mat; a mat that’s too thick can make you unstable, but one too thin can leave you sore post-workout.

 

 

[caption id="attachment_11276" align="alignright" width="250"] Photo Credit: www.exrx.net[/caption]

 

4. Fitball ($8-$10) and Dumbbells (Varies based on weight): A fitball is a favorite because the ball can be used to facilitate resistance training by acting as a bench or chair. Seated on the ball you can use dumbbells on your arms or lying down on the ball you use it to execute a bench press or chest fly with dumbbells.  Additionally, the ball is perfect for abdominal and lower back strengthening exercises. Fitballs have different sizes (55, 65, 75mm), therefore the taller you are the bigger the ball you will want to get. The traditional size is a 65mm for anyone between 5’4” and 6’.

[caption id="attachment_11267" align="alignleft" width="150"] Photo Credit: www.drugstore.com[/caption]

 

5. Balance Disc ($12-$18): An awesome tool to not only practice balance on, but also a wonderful way to strengthen your ankle muscles and balance. Balancing one 
foot on each or both feet on the same disc, this creates air displacement and an unstable platform for your feet. The unstable platform strengthens the ankles and improves balance and flexibility. Incorporate this into your weight training, by standing on top and adding bicep curls, shoulder presses, or tricep kickbacks—getting an upper body and balance workout in one!

[caption id="attachment_11272" align="alignright" width="200"] Photo Credit: www.academy.com[/caption]

 

6. Foam Roller ($15-$50): Exercise can leave our body feeling sore and tight. Having a foam roller at home can help reduce soreness and release some muscle tension. Foam rolling is a form of self-myofascial release which is used to inhibit overactive muscles. Using the foam roller is a form of stretching that improves soft tissue extensibility by relaxing the muscle and allowing activation of the antagonist muscle. Foam rolling can sometimes be uncomfortable, but releasing this tension 1-2X/week will make the rolling more and more comfortable and improve full range of motion for the whole body.

 

[caption id="attachment_11274" align="alignleft" width="200"] Photo Credit: www.yogaaccessories.com[/caption]

7. Yoga Strap ($10-$15): Using a yoga strap is a great way to help assist and progress stretching. Using a strap delivers the benefits of assisted stretching with a partner. Having multiple loops permit deep, gradual stretching of major muscle groups with greater safety, control and effectiveness than is possible unaided. The strap is a simple tool that also can be brought with while travelling. Stretching our muscles help to improve range of motion and improve the body’s elasticity. We want to not only be strong, but functional and mobile as well and using a strap like this can assist in making stretching less forced and improve flexibility.

Fitness Friday: Yoga Flow

Check out this Fitness Friday- Yoga Style with Karen sharing and Danielle demonstrating a Yoga Flow series.

Fitness Friday: Dynamic and Static Stretches

Check out Fitness Friday with Danielle Dunn! She shares Dynamic and Static Stretches preparing you for a run or race!

Fitness Friday: TABATA and all its benefits!

By H3 Fitness Director Danielle Dunn

What is Tabata?

Tabata is a cutting-edge approach in the fitness industry. Tabata falls under the category of high intensity training and consists of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest. This cycle is repeated 8 times, totaling four minutes.

 

How did it come about?

Tabata was founded by a Japanese scientist named Izumi Tabata, serving as the head coach for the Japanese speed skating team, and fellow colleagues at a department of physiology in Japan.

 

What is the research behind Tabata?

Dr. Izumi Tabata and his fellow scientists decided to conduct a study at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo to compare moderate intensity training with high intensity training. He conducted the tests on 2 groups of athletes; 1 of the groups used the moderate intensity interval training and the other using high intensity interval training. In group one; the athletes were training in moderate intensity workouts (70% intensity) for five days a week for a total of six weeks with each training session lasting an hour. Group two trained in the high intensity workouts for 4 days a week for a total of 6 weeks with each session lasting 4 minutes, at 20 seconds of intense training (170% intensity) and 10 seconds of rest. Group one had a significant increase in the aerobic system (cardiovascular system), however, the anaerobic system (muscles) gained little or no results at all. Group two showed much improvement in all their athletes. Their aerobic systems increased much more than group ones, and their anaerobic systems increased by 28%. These results indicate that not only did high intensity interval training have more of an impact on the aerobic systems; it had an impact on the anaerobic systems as well.

What are the benefits of 20 second workouts?

• Fat Loss through Increased Metabolic Rate

Intense exercise raises our metabolic rate to about 15 times the basal metabolic rate, or BMR. Since the BMR is the amount of energy your body burns while at rest, any increase to this rate increases the fat that your body burns even when you are not exerting yourself. This high intensity interval training knows as Tabata puts short-lived, but acute stress on the body. When these intense exercises occur on a regular basis, the body increases its BMR to handle the new demands put on it. When you create an Oxygen Debt (for example: heavy panting during tabata) your body has burned off all of the blood sugar (glycogen) it has and needs to replace all of that energy. It does this by burning fat. Instead of trying to use fat while you are exercising, you use carbs as fuel while you are exercising and use fat after the exercise has occurred. The short duration workouts of tabata were shown to burn an average of 5x more calories AFTER their exercise is over.

• Muscle Tissue Retention

Dieting as a means to weight loss often causes loss of muscle tissue. Tabata places stress on muscle tissue, which tells your body that more muscle tissue is needed. As a result, the ratio of your lean body mass to fat mass goes up, and by choosing exercises that maximize the muscle mass worked, muscle tissue may increase.

• Anaerobic and Aerobic Capacity Increase

Your body has 2 systems of fuel, there is Aerobic and Anaerobic. Now, the aerobic system is the greatest amount of energy produced by the body in the presence of oxygen. Anaerobic capacity is the maximum amount of energy that can be produced by the body in the absence of oxygen. This anaerobic energy is produced by burning carbohydrates when there is insufficient oxygen in the bloodstream to produce the required energy aerobically. Please note that one does not replace the other! What happens is you start out by burning fuel with your aerobic energy system, and once you go past the point where there is not enough oxygen in your system to provide aerobic energy to your muscles, your anaerobic system kicks in. To get there, you need to get your heart rate up past what is typically referred to as the Target Heart Rate Zone (50-85% of your maximum heart rate (220-age)). You should use a Heart Rate Monitor to measure yourself.

• Time Savings

With Tabata, you can gain more results in less time. The short duration of a Tabata workout increases an individual's willingness and faithfulness to work out regularly. It would be difficult to deny 4 to 8 minutes a day to your physical fitness. In addition, safety requires close attention to your body's feedback when you exercise intensely which enhances interest in the changes that the exercise routine is making in your body, and thus increased interest helps remove the drudgery of an exercise routine.

 

How effective can Tabata be?

You may be surprised how intense 4 minutes of exercise can feel. The intervals are both time efficient and taxing. This kind of workout is excellent for athletes involved in sports, boxing, MMA, wrestling, and also is effective for fat loss. Intense interval work such as Tabata, will raise the body’s metabolic rate (BMR) long after the exercise session is completed and this post workout fat loss is the end result. Many studies have confirmed that this powerful “after-effect” of interval training is most effective for fat loss than low intensity, continuous exercise, assuming a true maximal effort is applied.

What are the pros and cons of Tabata?

Pros?

Tabata will be improving your aerobic system and anaerobic system at the same time much more than traditional cardio training. With the anaerobic increase and short duration of time needed to complete it, Tabata will also fire up the metabolism during the workout and have an after effect after the workout (meaning even after you are done your Tabata workout, you’ll still be burning calories). Additionally, Tabata also improves mental toughness (or will power) because of the high intensity of it. At first when you do Tabata training, the thought of quitting may occur; however, as you pull through the exercise, you gain physical benefits as well as mental benefits. Remember its 20 seconds of work and then a break is right around the corner!

Cons?

Tabata is very demanding and should not be done too frequently. The typical recommendation is for one or two Tabata workouts per week. As is true for any strenuous exercise a warm-up routine is advisable. Because of the high intensity Tabata requires you to do, it could be dangerous when you perform this exercise when you are prone to strokes and heart attacks. If you know that you have high blood pressure or have had a history of strokes and heart attacks, consult prior with your doctor to see if you are physically capable of performing the Tabata exercise. The other danger about Tabata is that if you’re not careful and are using weights when doing Tabata, depending on the exercise, you could hurt yourself. For example if you are benching real quickly when using Tabata, there’s a chance the bar might slip from your hands. Tabata is performed best with cardio and body weight strength exercises.

What does a basic tabata workout look like?

Any exercise can be incorporated into Tabata training. However the basic outline of the Tabata training method are as follows:
•     4 minutes long (whole Tabata Session)
•     20 seconds of intense training
•     10 seconds of rest
•     Total of 8 sessions or rounds

How do I create my own tabata workout?

A wide variety of exercises are compatible with Tabata, including resistance exercises such as body weight strength exercises and aerobic exercises which can be done indoors or outdoors. A few popular examples are hitting a heavy boxing bag, sprinting, jumping rope, rowing, medicine ball slams, bodyweight calisthenics (squats and pushups). As an example, you can sprint for 20 seconds, walk for 10 seconds, sprint for 20, walk for 10,  continuing until you have completed 8 full sprint/walk sets. To keep time yourself, you can use a large digital clock, personal interval timer, or now music is sold that has the 20 second work phase and 10 second rest phase programmed with verbal cues. Get out and try Tabata!