This is the Twelve Days of Christmas Fitness Style....

It is the time of year to enjoy your family and friends. Here is a quick way to burn off some of those extra special holiday calories…..

The Twelve Days of Christmas

(Done the Health and Fitness Academy Way)

On the first day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          A lap around the HFA track (30 sec sprint)

On the Second day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Two Chest press

On the Third day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Three Box Jumps

On the Fourth day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Four Push ups

On the Fifth day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Five Prisoner squats

On the Sixth day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Six Upright rows

On the Seventh day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Seven walking lunges

On the Eighth day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Eight Bicep curls

On the Ninth day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Nine Sit ups

On the Tenth day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Ten Shoulder Shrugs

On the Eleventh day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Eleven second plank

On the Twelfth day of Christmas my trainer gave to me….

          Twelve Bench Dips

A very happy holiday to you and your loved ones this year and a happy and healthy 2016. From the HFA Staff

When Sleep Rituals Aren't Enough

You're doing the sleep ritual thing. You've dimmed the lights. Turned off the electronics. Relaxed. Gotten in bed, shut your eyes, and thought of a calm blue ocean.

But you still can't sleep! URG! What a cruel joke! What's going on?

According to Precision Nutrition, here are some things that might be killing your sleep:

     1. Wonky Hormones
               Some hormones, like melatonin and growth hormone, help us sleep. They make us feel drowsy and they rejuvenate and rebuild our body while we're sleeping. But, some hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, while they help us lose fat and stay healthy during the day, can cause problems at night. Just remember, if you can't sleep you may have some hormonal issues. Check out www.precisionnutrition.com ->blog for more information.
     2. The Stress Factor
               Sleep and your hormonal health is also affected by: chronic stress, too much caffeine (or other stimulants), over-exercising (especially chronic cardio or too-frequent, highly intense training) and over-restrictive dieting (including fasting).

*Whether it's physical or psychological, stress can and will knock your hormones out of balance*

According to Precision Nutrition, here are some suggestions on how to FIX YOUR SLEEP.

     1. Include a small portion of high-fiber, slow-digesting smart carbs at every meal.
               If you are tempted to drop your carbs too low, well, just don't. Carbs help with proper hormone synthesis (including your feel-good sleepytime hormone serotonin) and tell the body that you've had enough to eat.
     2. Eat at regular intervals, every 3-4 hours, when you're hungry.
               Don't fast or skip meals.
     3. Balance your intense training with low-intensity relaxing-type activities, like yoga or talking a walk.
     4. If you are concerned about underlying hormonal problems, consult with a health care provider.
     5. If you haven't already, develop a sleep ritual!
               See my previous post about creating a sleep ritual for ideas.

*For those that struggle with sleep, I hope this information helps guide you in a direction to help you get more and/better sleep!*

Until next time,
Hayley Earley, BS, CSCS, Pn1
hearley@mvhospital.net

   

Healthy Holiday Eating....

Happy Holiday snacks........

Holiday Homework

As Christmas quickly approaches and we become busy and always on the go, it’s important to not let go of what you have accomplished so far this year, and it is not the time to start making excuses. You might not feel like you have a lot of time, you might not feel like you have the energy, or you might just not want to exercise, but, keeping up with your exercise at this time of year is just as important, if not more important, than starting over when the new year begins – for consistency and habit building purposes. Keeping up on your exercise and activity now, in December, will make January even easier to commit to and stay consistent with, because you will have already begun working on reaching your goals by building habits during the holidays and consistency during this busy time of year.

Your homework for the holiday season is to continue or even start exercising! Below is a little CHRISTMAS workout to help you start exercising, give your workout routine some variety, to get some new ideas, and/or to bring a spark back into you to want to exercise again.

Crossover Reverse Lunge: Start facing foward, feet hip width apart, holding a single dumbbell. With the right leg, do a reverse lunge toward the back corner of the room, keeping your hips square to the front of the room. Drop the back knee as close to the ground as you can get it, without it touching the ground. Repeat all reps on right leg, then switch to the left leg. 

Hip Extension on Ball: Lay on an exercise ball, with your hips at the top of the ball. Place your hands on the floor, or holding onto a railing. Start with your feet on the floor. Pull your legs up and off the floor, as high as you can get them. Return feet to the floor and repeat. 

Reverse Bicep Curls w/ Dumbbells: Hold a dumbbell in each hand, with the palms facing you (overhand grip). Keeping your upper arms by your sides, bend the elbows to bring the dumbbells toward your shoulders. Lower down slowly and repeat. 

Inchworms: Start with your feet hip width apart (or farther apart to make it easier). With straight legs, bend over and put your hands on the ground. Walk your hands out in front of you until you are in a flat plank. Hold for a second. Walk your hands back into your feet, still keeping your legs straight, and stand back up. Repeat. 

Squats: Using only your body weight, or dumbells or a barbell for resistance, stand with your feet hip width apart. Push your hips back as you lower down as if you are going to sit into a chair. Push your hips back far enough to keep your knees behind your toes, and keep your weight in your heels. Sit until your legs are parallel to the ground, then push through the heels to stand back up and repeat.  

Toe Touchers: Lay on the floor with your back pressed into the ground with your legs extended toward the ceiling. Keeping your legs straight and still, crunch your upper body off of the ground and reach for your toes. Lower shoulder blades back down to the ground, but keep the head lifted. Repeat. 

Medicine Ball Push-Ups: One your toes or knees, place a medicine ball under one hand. The other hand stays on the floor. Push up into plank position, or the starting position of a push-up. Do a push-up. When you return to the starting push-up position, roll the ball to the other hand and repeat the exercise with the other hand on the ball. 

Alternating Deltoid Raises: With a dumbbell in each hand, stand up straight. Keeping your arms straight, with just a slight bend in the elbows, raise the dumbbells up in front of you, to shoulder height. Lower back down. Then, with the same arm position, raise the dumbbells out to your sides, to shoulder height. Lower back down. Keep the palms facing down during the whole exercise. 

Seated Overhead Triceps Press: With a single dummbell, sit down on a bench. Wrapping your fingers around the end of the dumbbell so it cannot slip, raise the dumbbell overhead. Keeping your arms by your ears and your upper arm stationary, bend at the elbows to lower the weight behind you. Pull the weight back up to the starting position and repeat.

Do 15 repetitions of each exercise (15 per side on the exercises that you work one side at a time) and repeat 3 times for a 30-45 minute full body workout! During the holiday season, time can be limited and your workouts don’t have to be too long. Try out this workout to see that in just 30 minutes, you can work your full body and be done before you know it. Soon enough you’ll be ready to jump back into your busy life and enjoy the holidays! Have a great holiday season and continue to exercise.

Until next time!

Miranda Harris

NSCA CSCS

ACSM HFS

New Thanksgiving Perspective

The past couple of days I have been pondering what to write to you about, especially as we are in full swing of holiday season. As I lay in bed early one morning this week, many things started to cross my mind about what I was grateful for. One thing in particular was standing out, which I thought was a little odd yet kinda cool to ponder.

Earlier in the week I had been in a discussion with someone who asked me why I was being defiant in regards to a small matter that was actually just a moment of distraction and forgetfulness for me. I let what was said become personal and I took offense, even though I knew the truth of what had actually happened. So, the word defiant has run through my head the whole week and some interesting thoughts along with it.

The definition of defiance is: putting in opposition, or provoking to combat; a challenge; a provocation; a refusal to obey something or someone; the act of defying someone or something; contrary to.

So, this holiday season, I am grateful for defiance or civil disobedience and those people who had the courage to use it in order to create positive change. Now, I am not talking about those who use defiance as a way of ignorance or in harming others but those who want to create real heartfelt change for themselves and others. We all know or have read and studied about people who are defiant in order to create change. These are the people who cause a disturbance, make history and many may even be our heroes or people we look up too.

Let’s see if we can come up with a few. Henry David Thoreau, Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi, Mandela, the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Mother Theresa, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Jesus, the picture of man who stood in front of a tank, a person in our family, a friend, and the list goes on and on and on. These people had the courage to see that things could be different, if not better, and were willing to take a stand in order to make that change happen, not only for themselves but for others.

Some stood up against governments or ruling bodies while others stood up to people who said it (whatever “it” was) could never be done.  So my question to you today is this: where in your life could you use a little defiance or civil disobedience in order to create the changes you’d like to see? Where could you take a stand against old ways of thinking and habits that don’t create positive results?  Where can you defy the person or people in your life who tell you it can’t be done or you’ll never be able to make “it” happen? Are you willing to question and be defiant when your mind is giving you nothing but trash talk? Are you willing to go against the grain (whether that grain is yours or someone else’s) and push boundaries, take down walls or defy gravity in order to attain your happiness?

Take note of what it is you want and just how much you want it. This could be better health, a slimmer body, healthier eating, new home, an awesome vacation, better relationships with self and others, moving towards and attaining goals and so on. Explore what you are currently doing, or not doing, and where a little healthy defiance would do you some good. Then, take courage and start moving! As a reminder, if someone tells you you’re being defiant, listen and decide if it’s from your head or your heart and make corrections as necessary. You can and will make a difference when you set your heart and mind into action.

As a sided note, when you look at someone else and think to yourself they are being defiant or find yourself telling them they are being so, do yourself and them a favor and do a little exploring.  Find out why! Defy your instinct to judge. Do different. Find out what is behind the behavior or the motive. Give the gift of listening and learning. You might just be amazed at what you find out about another person and their heart and you both will be changed in that moment.

As we continue to move through the holiday season I plan to celebrate those people who were defiant and because they were, made it possible for me to enjoy all the wonderful things I do today.  I will also celebrate those many defiant souls who are currently taking stands in positive ways in order to continue to create change and create a better world for us. I will celebrate Christmas with gifts both given and received that I can touch with my hands and also those that touch my heart. I give you the gift of supporting you in your defiance to create positive change in your lives. I celebrate your joy and happiness as well as your possible heartaches as you do so.

Happy Holidays & continue to defy gravity!
Until next time…Go BE Great!

Jennifer Saunders
ACE Certified Personal Trainer,
Reiki Energy Therapy
Buttin Gear, Intuitive Life Coach,
ACE Behavior Change Specialist

Thanksgiving recipes

Just a few Thanksgiving experiments that I found to try....

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Health and Fitness Academy.

30 days to build endurance....

30 days to building endurance

How does your body build endurance? Endurance has almost always been synonymously linked to cardio vascular fitness. Although we need endurance to perform in events such as marathons and ironman’s we have learned that endurance is also needed to function at our peak on the weight floor and the cross fit gym also. In fact, as we age, most find it more rewarding to finish an ironman then bench press their own weight. This is most likely because endurance training gives us other desired results. Good Cardiovascular conditioning is like the fountain of youth, we age slower and maintain a higher level of functionality into our retirement. In addition as our body ages it is not a susceptible to injury during endurance activities.

Cardiovascular performance has been based on three main factors

1) Heart rate (how many times your heart beats per minute)

2) Stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped per heartbeat)

3) Heart contractility (the forcefulness of each actual contraction of your heart muscle)

All three factors turn our focus to the heart but there are other ways to improve your endurance.

As your muscles contract during exercise they push the blood back toward the heart, this is called Pre-load. Preload actually enhances the heart’s stroke volume during exercise, making adequate contraction and strength of your skeletal muscle a major determinant of your endurance performance.

Another way to improve endurance is to build mitochondrial density. Mitochondria are the powerhouses or your cells they use oxygen to create ATP which is the power you need to do anything. Both HITT and resistance training help increase the number you have and how efficient they are. All of which improve both how much oxygen arrives at the muscles through your blood and how much oxygen your muscle cells remove from the blood before sending it on back to your heart.

I have attached a 4 week program built to increase your ability to perform for endurance.

HITT Cardiovascular- Hill repeats can be performed on the bike or treadmill by increasing resistance and or incline. After performing a warm up and stretching, alternate between 60 seconds at a sprint with 120 seconds at a moderate pace. Repeat the interval until 20 minutes is up and or you can no longer continue.

Steady State-Complete 45-60 minutes at a moderate pace.

Strength Lower body- Complete 4-8 lower body exercises focusing on the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hips, and calves. 4 sets of each with 13-20 repetitions in each set.

Strength Upper body- Complete 4-8 Upper body exercises focusing on the chest, back, bicep, triceps, and shoulders.4 sets of each with 13-20 repetitions in each set.

Make sure to keep track of the workouts, exercises you choose and weight increases throughout the month in your exercise log. After a week of complete rest from the program you may want to repeat it for further gains.

Good luck and do not forget to send your feed back into ghouston@mvhospital.net, I would love to celebrate your win with you.

Rest and Digest

SLEEP…HOW IMPORTANT IS IT REALLY?

Why is sleep important? Does it really matter if you only get 6 hours of sleep per night instead of 7 or 8? What happens if you get more than 8 hours of sleep? Can sleep help you lose weight? Can sleep prevent you from getting sick?

According to the National Institute of Health, “sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. The way you feel while you're awake depends in part on what happens while you're sleeping. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development. The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant (such as a car crash), or it can harm you over time. For example, ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for some chronic health problems. It also can affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.”

It makes sense when you look at the effects of sleep deprivation!

But what constitutes sleep deprivation? How many hours of sleep do you really need? Check out the following recommended sleep chart provided by the National Sleep Foundation.

As an adult 25-64 years old, writing this article, I should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep nightly. Can you imagine if I am deficient even 1 hour a night? That’s 7 hours per week, 28-31 hours per month, 365 hours a year!

But wait…if sleep deprivation contributes to all of these negative health issues, then more MUST be better, right?! Well, actually, NO. According to www.webmd.com, “oversleeping has been linked to a host of medical problems as well, including diabetes, heart disease, and increased risk of death”.

Getting the right amount of sleep does seem to be very important to our health so why is the majority of the population sleep deprived. According to Precision Nutrition, there are typically 2 reasons (both we can control), why we have poor sleep.

1. We stay up late on purpose.
     a. Voluntary bedtime delay such as watching TV, going out with friends, overbooking our days, reading a book and more.
2. We have a poor sleep ritual.
     a. Good sleep doesn’t just magically happen. You need time to transition from a busy day and relaxation.

How do you go about changing this? Precision Nutrition recommends the following 11 tips for a great night sleep.

1. Decide on a bedtime in advance and start planning for it 1-2 hours in advance.

2. Limit your caffeine to the morning with no caffeinated beverages after 2pm.

3. 1-2 hours before bed, take out a piece of paper and do a brain dump.

4. Turn off all electronic screens (TV, computer, electronic readers…etc) an hour before bed.

5. Make yourself some decaf tea, listen to soft music and read something light.

6. Turn off all gadgets and put them in another room.

7. Set your bedroom temperature to 67-70°F.

8. Take an Epsom salts bath before bed.

9. Dim the lights. Darken your bedroom.

10. Try some white noise.

11. Developing a sleep ritual can take time. Continue the behaviors even if the outcome of sleep takes longer to come around.

I hope these tips are helpful in your quest to find better sleep. Stay tuned for next time to learn what to do when sleep rituals are not enough.



Hayley Earley, BS, CSCS, Pn1

hearley@mvhospital.net

Halloween Candy - Balance it Out!

Now that the Halloween events of trick or treating are over, let’s talk about the candy. More specifically, let’s talk about how to balance out the candy that you have, or will consume. All foods, including candy, are filled with calories, and all calories count. Here’s a quick glimpse into how many calories are in some of the popular, fun size, Halloween candy packages.

3 Musketeers: 63 calories            100 Grand: 95 calories                      Almond Joy: 80 calories

Baby Ruth: 85 calories                   Butterfinger: 85 calories               Charleston Chew: 30 calories

Dots: 70 calories                               Heath Bar: 77 calories               Hershey’s Bar: 67 calories

Jelly Belly’s: 35 calories                      Kit Kat: 70 calories                  M&M’s (Plain): 73 calories

M&M’s (Peanut): 90 calories      M&M’s (Peanut Butter): 95 calories      Milk Duds: 40 calories

Milky Way: 80 calories                   Milky Way Dark: 81 calories                 Mike & Ike: 50 calories

Mounds: 80 calories                       Mr. Goodbar: 90 calories                        Nerds: 50 calories

Nestle Crunch: 60 calories           Pay Day: 90 calories                                Raisinets: 67 calories

Reese’s PB Cup: 110 calories      Reese’s NutRageous: 95 calories              Skittles: 80 calories

Snickers: 80 calories                 Snickers (Peanut Butter): 130 calories   SweeTarts: 10 calories

Take 5: 100 calories                         Twix: 80 calories                           Whoppers: 100 calories

York Peppermint Pattie: 60 calorie

 

Now that we know how many calories are in candy we ate, or will soon eat, we need to know how to balance out those calories. To balance out those calories, we need to burn those calories. That being said, let’s look into the calories that are burned during different exercises and types of physical activity. These examples are just that though, examples. Examples to show you how long it would take, and what you would have to do to burn off the calories you consumed. These examples are based on a 150 pound person. Exercise is not a “one size fits all” so you would need to adjust the calories burned for your current weight.

Let’s start with walking. Walking at a brisk pace of about 4 miles per hour for 20 minutes will burn about 117 calories. That means you could burn off Raisinets and some Mike & Ikes in those 20 minutes.

What about walking up and down some stairs, which could be done at home or at work on a break? Walking up and down stairs for 15 minutes would burn about 137 calories. During those 15 minutes, that means you could just about burn off a Take 5 and Milk Duds.

15 minutes of Calisthenics such as sit-ups, jumping jacks, knee lifts, lunges, and squats also burn about 137 calories. That could burn off plain M&M’s and a 3 Musketeer.

Cardio machines such as an elliptical, stationary bike, or treadmill at a fast pace can burn close to 200 calories in 15 to 20 minutes. Doing this could burn off a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and a Pay Day.                

Now that you know how long it can take to burn off just 2 small Halloween treats, plan ahead before you eat your treats so you know what you will have to do to negate it!

You can specifically calculate how many calories you burn, based on your weight, for different exercises. Multiply your weight by the number below to find out how many calories you can burn, per minute, of that specific type of exercise. The third column in the table below will tell you how many calories a 150 pound person would burn, per minute.

Bicycling (5.5 mph)	.029	4.35
Jumping Rope (70 jumps per minute)	.074	11.1
Running (8-minute mile)	.095	14.25
Squats	.096	14.4
Swimming, crawl, slow	.058	8.7
Walking, normal pace, asphalt road	.036	5.4
Weight training, free weights	.039	5.85
Weight training, circuit training	.042	6.3

We all know that the holiday season, from Halloween to the New Year is when most people gain weight. The extra weight gain can be contributed to the little treats here and there, the bite of this here and a bite of that there. To avoid this extra weight gain, start with negating the extras you are eating with a little extra exercise. Use the calculations above to determine what you need to do in order to keep yourself balanced!

Until next time,

Miranda Harris

mharris@mvhospital.net

Trick or Treat

As Halloween approaches and this blog hangs over my head. I feel the chill on my skin wondering what will come out of my head, through my fingers and onto this page. Fear is starting to set in as the week draws to an end and I haven’t touched the keyboard til now. Will something crazy or creepy make its way out of my head and into the dark spaces of the internet and find its way to you?  We are about to find out!

Wait, a black cat just crossed in front of me…I hope this goes well. What’s up? Where did that blasted ladder come from that has now caused me to drop my pocket mirror?  I’m starting to really wonder if anything is going to go my way tonight. I just saw a decoration of a spider…ewww sick…that reminded me of when I had to trap an actual tarantula and save my roommate, because it was climbing on her pillow while she slept. Ouch!  I thought horseshoes were supposed to be lucky and now I think I have a broken toe. Wouldn’t ya know it, just my luck, the pizza I ordered is $13!!  I think I should just stop now, go climb in bed and hide under my pillow and wait for a better day.  If better days are even out there!

Do you ever feel like this is your existence? Bad luck everywhere you turn?  Do you experience fear that creeps in whether it’s real or imagined, that starts to overtake your life? This Halloween season seemed like a good time to take a look at some of the freaky things going on in our minds and how we respond to them.

So, what ghoulish thoughts are lurking around in your heads?  When they appear what do you do with them? Are they taking up valuable space where more angelic thoughts could be playing peacefully? Are you allowing spooky things from the past to stop you in your tracks? Are you frozen with fear thinking about the future and creating monsters that don’t even exist, except in your mind?

As we pass through this Halloween, look inside your goodie bucket and see if it is full of tricks disguised as fear or treats that will take you closer to your goals.  Look at what lurks inside your closets, open the doors and let those skeletons go – forever.  Lean into the fear of cleaning out those cobwebbed corners and creating spaces full of creative energy. Hang up that horseshoe and realize you are luckier than you think and start moving towards gratitude and all the great things that are coming your way.

You have a choice to live in fear or joy. You have a choice to choose positivity over negativity.

Trick or treat…the choice is yours.

Quick, smash that spider. Seriously!

Go BE Great!

Jennifer Saunders

BS, ACE, Reiki, ButtinGear