The Training Pyramid (1 of 3: Cardio)

Fitness First – Rockville will be spending the next three days addressing the individual corners of the training pyramid.  We are excited to finally answer some of the common questions we get from our members and guests, and perhaps answer some questions that have not been asked aloud yet.

The First Corner

The first exercise essential we are going to address is Cardio.  Everyone has an opinion about Cardio training.  Everyone has a friend that says to do this or that.  The internet is full of articles on Cardio Training.  Don’t worry, we are not going to tell you it is all wrong or right.

What we will do is address why it is essential to your health, and what role it should play in your workout.

Why Cardio?

Cardio is ESSENTIAL for weight loss.  Cardio increases the health of your heart and lungs.  Cardio has been linked to reductions in stress and tension.  We all know this, but what else does cardio have going on?

1. Cardiovascular Training is easy to adjust for the individual – by changing duration, intensity, resistance, or frequency, any individual may fine tune their Cardiovascular Training to their individual needs without additional equipment or facilities.
2. You burn more calories at one time – Cardio training burns more calories in a shorter time than resistance training alone.  This calorie burn is how you guarantee the calorie deficit that is needed for weight loss.
3. You can do Cardio exercises more frequently and with less rest – With resistance training, you must give your muscles and body time to rest, rebuild, and grow.  Cardio training can be performed up to 6 days a week with little to no rest days.  This allows for greater gains, but also more schedule flexibility.

What Should I Do?

Cardiovascular Training is Cardiovascular Training.  This question is tricky, but common around the gym.  The honest answer is you should do whatever cardio exercise you enjoy.  Perhaps we should explain.

Cardiovascular Training has a number of components that determine what the ideal exercise for you is.  If there is an exercise you like, you can always adjust the components of that exercise to make it meet your needs.  Here are the components we keep mentioning.

1. Duration – More commonly known as, How Long?  If running for 20 minutes burns less calories than you need to burn, you can run for 30 minutes and burn more.  Simple enough.  However, if you are already exercising for 45 minutes or more, you should adjust the other components before you increase duration.
2. Intensity – or How Hard.  Intensity refers more to the strain placed on your heart by the exercise, and how high you get your heart rate.  Higher Heart Rate burns more calories.  Be careful when adjusting this component.  Overly intense Cardio can lead to multiple types of injury.
3. Impact – How much does your body contact solid surfaces, and how hard?  Running, Jumping, etc. is considered higher Impact than biking or swimming.  For individuals with injuries, this component is the most important.  High Impact activities tend to burn more calories than low impact.
4. Body Utilization – How much of your body moves and is used?  Step, Zumba, and Swimming use more of your body in their execution.  More body parts moving means more energy spent.  This component is an easy one to fine tune for additional calories burned.

Every Cardio exercise is made of these elements, and each can be adjusted for more or less calorie burn vs. strain on the body.  What this means is that every exercise can be considered equal.  Since the individual is not universal, the best Cardio exercise is always going to be The One That You Enjoy and Burns Enough Calories For You.

How Much Should I Do?

Re-Phrasing this question, How Many Times Per Week Should I Do Cardio?  The best answer for this question is another question.  What are your fitness goals?  This is why….

Are you trying to Gain or Lose Weight? – Cardio plays a very different role in weight Gain and Weight Loss.  When lowering your weight, cardio needs to burn a set amount of calories, and should become far more frequent.  When gaining weight, your concern is minimal calorie burning, while still exercising your heart and lungs.

How experienced are you with Cardio? – If you have never hiked for 30 minutes before, you will need to rest after your cardio for the first few weeks.  If you have run 10ks in the past, then you will be more familiar with maintaining your heart rate, monitoring muscle fatigue, and endurance levels.

How High is the Impact of your Cardio? – High impact and high intensity cardio activities can take more of a toll on your body and have more opportunity for injury.  If you are stressing your joints during your cardio, you will need more time to recover, however these activities will burn more calories.  A typical trade off.

Do you have any Injuries that should be considered?  – Shin splints, injured joints, surgery recovery, etc all play a role in both what type of cardio, and how often.  It would be dangerous to jump into a 6 days a week program, if your surgery recovery is only a week past.   This directly influences the intensity and impact of any cardio exercise.

In short, being honest about where your cardio knowledge and fitness are right now, and where you want it to be will answer the How Much Should I Do question.  Forgive the pun, but you must know where the starting and finish line are, before you can determine what race you are running.

In closing, any exercise program will include cardiovascular exercise as one of the primary components.  What is most important is to know what Cardio is doing for you, and how to make it work towards your goals.  Above all, do not mistake cardio for the type of exercise that burns fat.  Instead, think of it as the exercise that uses up the rest of your calories for the day.

Second, never assume that the cardio a friend or neighbor does is right for you.  Ask yourself the questions listed above, and once you have some solid answers, ask a professional.  There is a lot going on with cardio, and you will need to find the right fit for you if you intend on making it a successful habit.  Until next time, see you at the Gym.

Building Habits

We at Fitness First- Rockville have been discussing some of the things our clients have shared with us over the last week, and we have been focused on the ideas of habits.  Many of our members have shared how difficult sticking to a diet is.  Others have mentioned the effort of finding time in their schedule for the gym.  It occurs to us that this is because the diet and the gym have not become habits.

Ultimately, if the idea of exercising or watching your diet are thought of as chores or temporary things, you will always be scrambling for time, or searching for willpower.  The only way to bypass this is to make each a priority, and then a lifestyle.  The first step to each of course, is to make them both a habit.

Building a habit, no matter what anyone tells you, is much, much easier than you think. People tend to overthink it, making it into something more complex than it is. It’s not that difficult. Here is the simple truth of building a good habit.

Ready?

You just have to do it once.  And then do it once more.  And then again. And again. And again. Eventually, it’ll become automatic.  Research has shown that it takes an average of 21 days to build a habit.  That is only three weeks, or 21 single, mindful actions.  Make yourself take one action, once each day for three weeks, that is all.

That’s how you build a habit – all you have to do is do something once, then repeat it. But the key here is that you realize that you only really have to do that thing once. Once you do it once, all you have to do after that is do it again. And again.

You call a behavior a “habit” when you do it automatically.  You can hack the habit-building paradigm by making yourself do it automatically, no matter what. As you do that thing over and over again, you’ll eventually fall into a pattern where you’ll do it without thinking.

The best way to hack habit-building? Give yourself a trigger for your habit.  So lets talk a little about building a trigger.

 

Building A Trigger

As I said before, when you’re building a habit, what you actually want to do is to make yourself do the action that your new habit requires automatically, so you can be absolutely sure that you’ll repeat the action as many times as you’d like on a given day. The more you repeat the action, the faster you’ll make the action habitual.

The best way to make yourself “automatically” do it – by making yourself obliged to do it – is to give your habit what is called a ‘trigger’.  A trigger is a signal or event that will make you do the thing that you want to do.

Say you want to build the habit of daily exercise. To make that happen, you can make your trigger 5:30 P.M. (a time). Then say to yourself something like, “As soon as 5:30 rolls around, I’m going to go to the gym. I am building the habit of exercising.” When the clock strikes 5:30, you’re obliged to go to the gym. If you practice that for three weeks, you’ll be hitting the gym at 5:30 every single day.

There are two things that you must double check when choosing a trigger.

1. All you have to do is make your trigger happen once per day, and then you are set.  Remember, you just have to do things once, then you’re done. Only worry about the moment at hand, and you’ll be fine.
2. Make sure your trigger is a single event.  The trigger must work like a starter pistol.  Do not choose a deadline, or a drawn out event, or even a 30 second occurrence.  It must be a singular event that you can recognize and respond to.

Don’t let the requisite two or three weeks of constant action intimidate you. Remember, for right now, you only have to take care of today. Do things once. Then once again. Then once again…

Imagine how much easier controlling your diet will be once you open a menu and you already look for the healthier choice.  Now image how much easier getting to the gym is when you hear that beep from your phone that marks the “leaving for the gym now!” trigger.  Then you can build the habit of getting into the gym, getting your workout started right away, and then getting home.

The possibilities don’t stop there, you can undoubtedly come up with some other habits you could form for yourself at home, at work, even at play.  The message we really want to get across is, that forming a habit can get your mind, your schedule and your goals in sync.  All it takes is a single action a day, for three weeks, and the next year will require half the effort you are already spending on the things you already WANT to do.  Until next time, see you at the gym.

 

Where is your Exercise Log?

Greetings again from Fitness First- Rockville.  We are looking forward to December, and I am sure everyone else is as well.  The second half of the Holiday Season is upon us, and this is the time we find out if we have the strength to play the whole “game” or if we are lacking in Holiday Conditioning.

We wanted to discuss an important tool to anyone working on their fitness levels, novice or professional.  This tool can become one of the single greatest motivating forces in any routine, and for anyone already using it, it is essential.  This little gem is the Exercise Journal/Log.

It might seem silly to some, but the Exercise Log is vital to fitness efficiency and knowledge.   Below, we are going to talk about some of the benefits that are immediately available to anyone using a journal.  We also want to address what needs to go into a Log.

Why use the Journal?

MOTIVATION – Simply put, some people find that keeping a journal is a serious boost to motivation.  Lets be honest, we all need motivation to get into the gym, or do our full workout once we are there, at one time or another.  Any tool that gives us any boost in that department is a godsend.

We have found three common themes amongst those we spoke with.

1. I can share it with my friends and my trainers.
2. I can see all the work I have done (and the progress)  in black and white.
3.  It makes me feel like I know exactly what to do and how much. (We call this the Lost in the Weeds Effect.)

EFFICIENCY–  We all have lives and demands outside of the gym.  The time spent in the gym are essential, but so is our time with our careers, our friends, and our families.  Knowing what we are doing on Wednesday, how much time it takes, and the best time for us to do it gives us the ability to maximize the time we invest.  This also leads us to the next benifit….

RESEARCH – What is working, what needs to be increased, what needs to be decreased, what needs to change.  Fitness is an ever changing road.  As we become more fit, we grow.  As we grow, we will change.  Our workouts will change with us.  The Journal is our own research log on what we did to get where we are.

FUTURE PLANNING – The flip side is also true.  We can track what isn’t working for us.  Are we not seeing the gains we wanted?  Is something missing in our workout?  Are there days when exercise is just not happening due to scheduling?  Are leg workouts interfering with getting around at work?  Well everything is right there!  It is much easier to make new plans, alter schedules, and plan for next month when we have all that information available.

What goes into my Journal?

Lets assume that you are ready to start using your journal.  What all should be in your journal?  It is pretty simple really.  You can pick up a journal from amazon or any of the numerous sites online for very little, but if you wanted to build your own we will discuss what you will need.

SPACE FOR NOTES – This is the most overlooked section.  Leave yourself space to record various notes each day.  They can be as simple as, Missed Sleep Last Night or Turned Ankle this morning.  This lets you put the work out into some perspective.  You might discover a trend this way, or find a gem that made the workout easier.

WORK OUT MATRIX – This is the Excel like spreadsheet that records your exercise name, sets, and reps.  For Cardio this would include, What you did, how long, intensity, and your Heart Rate.  For Cardio, the notes section is very important.  Over a week, you will see your progress and trends.  Over a month, good workout days will become evident, and your improvement will leap off the page at you.

GOALS – This is essential.  You need to have a space for your weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals.  This can just be a short paragraph, but essentially you must be able to see how close you are to your next stepping stone, and how much more you will need to do.  Comparing your progress will help you set realistic goals overtime, but you can also see if you need to increase your intensity.

The inclusion of a workout log will show immediate payoff for anyone that includes them in their routine.  They can be very affordable (a spiral notebook) or quite elaborate.  Most importantly though is that they are used, and that they move you one step closer to your goals, and your fitness.

Until next time, see you at the gym.

 

 

The Choice to be Healthy

Fitness First – Rockville is coming forward today to challenge many of its friends, guests and members to make a choice.  Our motto has always been “Fitness First….. Excuses Later.”  But today the Training Department wants to share another idea with you.  We are all, right now, living the life we choose.

This choice, of course, is not a single, monumental choice. No one decides, for example, “I’m going to move to L.A., and in five years I will be a waiter in a so-so restaurant, planning to get my 8-by-10’s done real soon so that I can find an agent and become a star,” or, on the negative side, “I’m going to marry a dreadful person and we’ll live together in a loveless marriage, staying together only for the kids, who I don’t much like, either.”

No. The choices I’m talking about here are made daily, hourly, moment by moment. The simple, small choices.  We might not even recognize them, which is why we so often let the decision be made for us.

Do we try something new, or stick to the tried-and-true? Do we take a risk, or eat what’s already on our dish? Do we ponder a thrilling adventure, or contemplate what’s on TV? Do we walk over and meet that interesting stranger, or do we play it safe? Do we indulge our heart, or cater to our fear?

The bottom-line question: Do we pursue what we want, or do we do what’s comfortable?  For the most part, most people most often choose comfort – the familiar, the time-honored, the well-worn but well-known. After a lifetime of choosing between comfort and risk, we are left with the life we currently have.

And it was all of our own choosing.

So what?  We are actively making the decision to either enrich our life, or let it settle.  We must choose to become healthy, make the classes on time, get up five minutes early, etc.  These decisions are part of taking responsibility for our own lives, and our own situation.  Allowing the excuses to build up and become a stumbling block is a choice as well.

So today, the Training Department challenges everyone who reads this entry to make the choice to be healthy.  For those that have already made this choice… great, share your story, we want to hear it.  Until next time, see you at the gym.

 

 

Why People Quit Working Out

Today, Fitness First – Rockville is going to discuss the most common reasons people quit working out.  Through our combined experience, we have seen countless individuals succeed in reaching their fitness goals.  The other side of this coin, however, is that we have seen just as many give up on themselves and their goals.

We were able to summarize the most dangerous attitudes/ideas that creep into ones mind, and then lead to giving up.  Notice that all of these factors are mental.  The mind will be the guiding force that moves the body towards success, but it is also the weak point that will convince you to halt your work out as well.

Wrong strategy

With so much information out there, this really shouldn’t be a problem. The basic formula to lose weight is to eat less calories than you burn or burn more calories than you eat. To gain weight, it’s the opposite. If you have the motivation to workout everyday but eat more calories than you’re burning, you’re going to be disappointed.

As long as you don’t buy into those quick-results-with-no-work-and-eat-anything-you-want schemes, you should be fine.  The truth is that anything worth having will take hard work.  Your father was right when he said easy come means easy go.

Lack of results

Too many people start working out with the expectation of some amazing result in too short of a time span. So when results don’t meet up to their expectations, they get discouraged and quit.  It is essential that you define your goals before you start, and consult with someone whom can inform you on realistic progress.  This can give you a better understanding of how your fitness will progress.

Slowed progress

Thinking that your results will stay consistent will just end up disappointing you. In the beginning, you may have some great results. You may lose 5-10 pounds your very first week. But as the weeks go by, you will find yourself losing less and less. Not knowing this in advance can be very discouraging when it happens.

Hitting a plateau

When you start working out, your results will be very encouraging. Your motivation to workout will increase as you see these amazing results. However, sooner or later, you will hit what’s known as a plateau. Athletes experience this all the time. You get to the point where results not only slow down, it actually stops. This can definitely be pretty frustrating.

Satisfaction

This is when you get to the point where you’ve loss enough weight to where you feel satisfied. You’re not where you want to be at but it’s not bad enough for you to want to do much about it. At this point, your motivation to workout may drop since your reason for working out is no longer strong enough. You may stop working out all together until your body gets to a point where it causes your motivation to workout to increase again and you start to workout again.

What Does All This Mean?

We are not addressing these traps to discourage anyone.  We are discussing them because these are very COMMON mind tricks that people pursuing their fitness goals fall into.  Everyone makes them at one time or another as well.  It is knowing what to expect ahead of time that lets you overcome these moments of doubt.

So, now that you know what commonly causes people to quit, how do you protect yourself from these de-motivators?  Well, just do the opposite!  Know what you want, speak with a professional and build a road map to your goals, do not accept less than absolute success, anticipate the times when you will need to modify or intensify your work outs, and realize that you are worth the hard work and the results you obtain.

We hope that this information will help those new to the world of exercise and health, as well as the seasoned veteran that is starting to feel those twinges of doubt.  We would love to hear about your own experiences with doubt and any feedback you wish to share.  Until next time, see you at the gym.

First Trainer of the Month Update

Fitness First – Rockville is proud to announce that two of our trainers have been nominated for trainer of the month.  We are currently sifting through the ballots and all of the feedback that their clients have given us.  It is always uplifting to read such positive feedback on two of your own co-workers, and to see the positive impact our training staff is having on peoples lives!

To be nominated for trainer of the month, a trainers clients must come forward and suggest them, or brag on them, if you will.  From there, we do an evaluation of their clients and their progress towards their goals.  Finally, we look at the quantity of individuals they work with, and we interview a cross section of those individuals for their satisfaction with the trainer.

After all of this is completed, a raw score is awarded.  Currently, two of our trainers are running neck and neck but we will definitely have a winner by the end of the month, so keep an eye open for post in the next few days!

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for such warm wishes over the Thanksgiving Holidays.  To all of our friends that were out of town, or entertaining their family, we wish to extend a belated HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  Until next time, see you at the gym.

10 Exercise Myths to Avoid (part 1)

Good Morning everyone!  Fitness First -Rockville is happy to be blogging with you again after a short break due to the birth of our directors daughter.  We can add a brown eyed little girl to our interests now!

During out hiatus, we  had time to meet with many of our members to give advice and answer some questions before the new year.  We collected the most common misconceptions we heard, and we found some expert advice to share.

The Danger of Exercise Myths

“Some myths are just harmless half-truths, but many others can actually be harmful,” says professional triathlete and personal coach Eric Harr, author of The Portable Personal Trainer. “They can cause frustration in working out and sometimes even lead to injury,” he notes.

One reason myths get started, says Harr, is that we all react to exercise a little differently. So what’s true for one person may not be true for another.   “In this sense you sometimes have to find your own ‘exercise truths’ – the things that are true for you,” says Harr.

To help put you and your family on the path to a healthier, safer, and more enjoyable workout, we got the lowdown from several top experts on what’s true and what’s not when it comes to exercise tips.

Fitness Myth No. 1: Running on a treadmill puts less stress on your knees than running on asphalt or pavement.

“Running is a great workout, but it can impact the knees — and since it’s the force of your body weight on your joints that causes the stress, it’s the same whether you’re on a treadmill or on asphalt,” says Todd Schlifstein, DO, a clinical instructor at New York University Medical Center’s Rusk Institute.

The best way to reduce knee impact, says Schlifstein, is to vary your workout.  “If you mix running with other cardio activities, like an elliptical machine, or you ride a stationary bike, you will reduce impact on your knees so you’ll be able to run for many more years,” says Schlifstein.

Fitness Myth No. 2: Doing crunches or working on an “ab machine” will get rid of belly fat.

But can doing ab crunches help you to lose that belly fat? Experts say no.  “You can’t pick and choose areas where you’d like to burn fat,” says Phil Tyne, director of the fitness center at the Baylor Tom Landry Health & Wellness Center in Dallas.  So crunches aren’t going to target weight loss in that area.

“In order to burn fat, you should create a workout that includes both cardiovascular and strength-training elements. This will decrease your overall body fat content,” including the area around your midsection, he says.

Fitness Myth No. 3: An aerobic workout will boost your metabolism for hours after you stop working out.

This statement is actually true — but the calorie burn is probably not nearly as much as you think!

Harr says that while your metabolism will continue to burn at a slightly higher rate after you finish an aerobic workout, the amount is not statistically significant. In fact, it allows you to burn only about 20 extra calories for the day. While there’s a little bit more of a metabolic boost after strength training, he says, it’s still marginal.

Fitness Myth No. 4: Swimming is a great weight loss activity.

While swimming is great for increasing lung capacity, toning muscles, and even helping to burn off excess tension, Harr says the surprising truth is that unless you are swimming for hours a day, it may not help you lose much weight.

“Because the buoyancy of the water is supporting your body, you’re not working as hard as it would if, say, you were moving on your own steam — like you do when you run,” says Harr.

Further, he says, it’s not uncommon to feel ravenous when you come out of the water.  “It may actually cause you to eat more than you normally would, so it can make it harder to stay with an eating plan,” he says.

Fitness Myth No. 5: Yoga can help with all sorts of back pain.

The truth is that yoga can help with back pain, but it’s not equally good for all types.

“If your back pain is muscle-related, then yes, the yoga stretches and some of the positions can help. It can also help build a stronger core, which for many people is the answer to lower back pain,” says Schlifstein.

But if your back problems are related other problems (such as a ruptured disc) yoga is not likely to help, he says. What’s more, it could actually irritate the injury and cause you more pain.  If you do have back pain, get your doctor’s OK before starting any type of exercise program.

More on the way Tomorrow!

We will share 5 more of these myths tomorrow, and we look forward to hearing some of the feedback our members have for us.  The biggest danger of myths like these rest in not asking for clarification.  No one goes out of their way to spread false information.  When dealing with your health, however, would you really only want 50% of the information correct?  Until next time, see you at the gym!

 

The Most Overlooked Element of Fitness?

Being part of the Training Department here at Fitness First- Rockville has given us the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the greatest personalities imaginable.  For all of our members, we offer the opportunity for a comprehensive fitness assessment.   When administering these assessments, I am always surprised at the number of individuals that have been exercising for years and would seem fit, however they have an unbalanced exercise program.  This brings us to, in our experience, the most overlooked element of fitness: BALANCE!

Balance, sometimes called proprioception, is communication between your mind and your muscles that allows the body to remain stable.  Proprioception is your own sense of where your body is in space.  “The term proprioception refers to  a sense of joint position,” writes Anne Quinn in a helpful article about balance training.  “It is the basic skill needed in practically every sport. From soccer to tennis to rock climbing, changing your center of gravity to match your moves is the key to efficiency in sport.”

Professional dancers and athletes have highly refined proprioceptive abilities simply because their bodies are required to respond to constantly changing forces, surfaces and elements.  But balance is an important skill for everyone, especially as we age.  Injuries from falls and accidents are a significant risk for older adults.  Maintaining stability throughout the course of our everyday activities is a key factor in maintaining health and wellness.

 

To train one’s sense of proprioception, simply put the body in an unstable position and try to balance.  Begin with an easy test like the one used by police officers when administering a sobriety test.  Stand tall with arms extended and try to touch your nose.  If that is too easy, do it with your eyes closed.  Professional dancers often stand in releve (on their toes) and balance with their eyes closed to test their balance.  If those exercises seem too easy then begin to incorporate balance training into your strength workout.

Use a balance board or Bosu ball under one or both feet while performing upper body exercises.  Another option is to roll up a towel and use that instead. The point is to put the body on a slightly uneven surface to train the mind and muscles to stabilize while doing biceps curls, lateral raises or any upper body movement. You will notice that maintaining balance while moving both arms simultaneously is easier than trying to compensate while moving one arm at a time.   Start balance training with easy exercises and gradually increase the challenge.

Middle aged exercisers are perfect candidates for balance training because as lifestyles change it is common to eliminate activities that involve risk or imbalance.  While this might keep the body safe in one regard, it limits the body’s ability to to test and therefore train our sense of stability.  And like every other sense, the less you use it the worse it gets.  By participating in just a few balance exercises a week, all exercisers will improve their chances of staying strong and injury free.  As always, see you at the gym!

Top 10 Nutrition Myths

Fitness First-Rockville has been busy for the last month providing health assessments for members that are concerned about the holidays, or just want to track their progress.  The assessment does cover each individuals diet and we have had the opportunity to listen to and talk about some of the greatest myths than many of our own members are still living by!

This has encouraged us to share an arcticle that was released at the 2011 conferance for the American College of Sports Medicine.  Read below, and see how many of these myths you are still counting as Fact!  If you have any concerns about your own diet, or are just interested in taking advantage of the end of year health assessments, contact Will or Ben.

Don’t drink alcohol. Take vitamins. Avoid eating eggs. We’ve heard these pieces of nutritional advice for years – but are they accurate? Not necessarily, say Wendy Repovich, Ph.D., FACSM, and Janet Peterson, Dr.P.H., FACSM, set out to debunk the “Top 10 Nutrition Myths.”

10. Eating carbohydrates makes you fat. Cutting carbs from your diet may have short-term weight loss benefits due to water loss from a decrease in carbohydrate stores, but eating carbs in moderation does not directly lead to weight gain. The body uses carbs for energy, and going too long without them can cause lethargy.

9. Drink eight, 8-oz. glasses of water per day. You should replace water lost through breathing, excrement and sweating each day – but that doesn’t necessarily total 64 ounces of water. It’s hard to measure the exact amount of water you have consumed daily in food and drink, but if your urine is pale yellow, you’re doing a good job. If it’s a darker yellow, drink more H2O.

8. Brown grain products are whole grain products. Brown dyes and additives can give foods the deceiving appearance of whole grain. Read labels to be sure a food is whole grain, and try to get three-ounce equivalents of whole grains per day to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

7. Eating eggs will raise your cholesterol. This myth began because egg yolks have the most concentrated amount of cholesterol of any food. However, there’s not enough cholesterol there to pose health risks if eggs are eaten in moderation. Studies suggest that eating one egg per day will not raise cholesterol levels and that eggs are actually a great source of nutrients.

6. All alcohol is bad for you. Again, moderation is key. Six ounces of wine and 12 ounces of beer are considered moderate amounts, and should not pose any adverse health effects to the average healthy adult. All alcohol is an anticoagulant and red wine also contains antioxidants, so drinking a small amount daily can be beneficial.

5. Vitamin supplements are necessary for everyone. If you eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, along with moderate amounts of a variety of low-fat dairy and protein and the right quantity of calories, you don’t need to supplement. Most Americans do not, so a multi-vitamin might be good. Special vitamin supplements are also recommended for people who are pregnant or have nutritional disorders.

4. Consuming extra protein is necessary to build muscle mass. Contrary to claims of some protein supplement companies, consuming extra protein does nothing to bulk up muscle unless you are also doing significant weight training at the same time. Even then the increased requirement can easily come from food. A potential problem with supplements is the body has to work overtime to get rid of excess protein, and can become distressed as a result.

3. Eating fiber causes problems if you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). There are two kinds of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fiber can cause problems in IBS sufferers; soluble fiber, however, is more easily absorbed by the body and helps prevent constipation for those with IBS. Soluble fiber is found in most grains.

2. Eating immediately after a workout will improve recovery. Endurance athletes need to take in carbohydrates immediately after a workout to replace glycogen stores, and a small amount of protein with the drink enhances the effect. Drinking low-fat chocolate milk or a carbohydrate drink, like Gatorade, is better for the body, as they replace glycogen stores lost during exercise. Protein is not going to help build muscle, so strength athletes do not need to eat immediately following their workout.

1. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented by eating foods low on the glycemic index. High levels of glucose are not what “cause” diabetes; the disease is caused by the body’s resistance to insulin. Foods high on the glycemic index can cause glucose levels to spike, but this is just an indicator of the presence of diabetes, not the root cause.

The Summit is presented this year with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as an educational partner.

The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 20,000 International, National and Regional members are dedicated to promoting and integrating scientific research, education and practical applications of sports medicine and exercise science to maintain and enhance physical performance, fitness, health and quality of life.

We hope this helps you with your own continued education in nutrition.  The most important thing for anyone trying to balance their diet and their nutrition is to be mindful.  Know what is going into your body, and know how your body works.  This will put you ahead of the game, and this is what will allow you to take control of your diet in the long run.   As always, see you at the Gym. 

Fitness First Guests at Health and Benefits Fair

Fitness First – Rockville, was honored to be invited to the The Hebrew Home of Greater Washington’s annual Health and Benefits Fair this week.  As Guests, the Training Department and Membership Services were asked to make presentations to the staff of The Hebrew Home, focusing on health assessments and the benefits of weekly exercise.  The fair itself is on going, however, our staff presented on Wednesday the 3rd and Thursday the 4th.

Non-Profit that assists the medical needs of the elderly

The Hebrew Home is a local Non-Profit, that attends to the needy with medical treatments and rehabilitation in the Rockville Area.  Many of their patients are elderly, or chronically ill.  “To work so closely with the staff was a great opportunity.  They work so hard for so many ill and elderly but, in many cases the caretakers forget to take care of themselves.”  William Stull, APTD stated.  Fitness First spent most of their time working with other health facilities and vendors to educate the staff, so they could begin taking better care of themselves.

The Hebrew Home is located on 6121 Montrose Road, in Rockville, MD 20852.  As a non-profit, they rely heavily on donations and volunteers.  If you are interested in learning more about them, and what they do for the community, just follow this link.

If you are interested in receiving the same fitness assessment that was offered The Hebrew Home, or know a prospective member that would like a tour and consultation, contact Mike or Will at the member services desk.  Until next time, see you at the Gym!