superadmin

Top Yoga Poses For Stress Relief

Top Yoga Poses For Stress Relief

Anyone who comes to Iron Fit in San Antonio, TX, knows how good they feel after a heart-pounding session of HIIT—high intensity interval training—or traditional strength training. That’s due to the stress relief that exercise provides. Many don’t realize that yoga poses can also provide the same benefits but in a more serene way.

Let your muscles heal by doing active recovery with yoga.

Your muscles need at least 48-72 hours to heal after a tough workout. If you don’t provide that healing time, it’s counterproductive. You don’t have to worry about doing two days of intense workouts in a row to get that exhilaration and stress relief. Just using the breathing techniques of yoga can offer quick results with little effort. You can calm your body by focusing on breathing and slowly inhaling through your nostrils and exhaling through your mouth.

A child pose is one of the most relaxing.

You’ll feel your stress drain away with the child pose. It starts with your body weight on the palms of the hands and knees. Fold your legs so the front of the lower legs rests on the floor. Exhale as you lower your bottom until it touches your heels. Slide your hands forward, extending your arms until your chest touches your thighs, with your arms fully outstretched and your forehead on the ground. Hold the pose as you breathe deeply, feeling your stress melt away with each breath.

Moving like a cobra helps relax the muscles in the back while bringing relief from stress.

Start this pose by lying flat with the top of your feet on the floor and your hands under your shoulders. Your elbow should be bent with your fingers pointing forward. Keeping your elbows close to the body, press down your lower body from the ribs down as you push your upper body upward. Exhale as you do this. Lift your upper body off the floor by straightening your arms, arching your upper body, and holding your head as high as possible. Hold the pose for 30 seconds as you do focused breathing.

  • The cat-cow combination of poses brings back and stress relief. Start on your hands and knees and raise your head as you drop your stomach for the cow pose. Move to the cat pose where you lower your head and arch your back.
  • The corpse pose doesn’t sound very inviting but it does help calm the mind. Lie on your back with your feet to the side edges of the mat and arms open to the sides, with your palms up. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and relax.
  • The garland pose looks like a deep squat with your feet pointing outward and knees spread. Your upper arms are inside your knees with your elbows bent and palms together. Lower your bottom as you squat, pressing your elbows into your thighs.
  • Do three-part breathing. Breathe in through the nose. Fill your lungs and belly. Hold and release the air by exhaling.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Resistance Bands Vs Free Weights

Resistance Bands Vs Free Weights

There are times you can’t make it to the gym or you just feel the need to workout to destress. That’s when you need an at-home workout. You can use bodyweight exercises but if you want equipment, resistance bands or free weights can be purchased. Which is the best to buy? Is there a difference in the results? Which fits your lifestyle best? One advantage of resistance bands is they’re lightweight and easy to pack if you travel. The same isn’t true of free weights.

Your budget, experience, and needs can determine the choice you make.

Resistance bands are the most budget-friendly strength-building equipment. You can get a variety of resistance levels for around $10. While one set of dumbbells can cost about the same or slightly more, they’re just one weight, so as you get fitter, you have to purchase more weights. Some free weights require a spotter. Kettlebells require more extensive training. Free weights also use gravity as their resistance. Focusing on proper positioning and form is imperative. Resistance bands create tension by stretching. You can change the angle and direction and work muscles on the horizontal or vertical plane.

If you want bulk, free weights may be the best.

Resistance bands work great for building strength but they aren’t necessarily the best for building bulk. While resistance bands work well to achieve most people’s goals, it doesn’t work as well for bodybuilders who want to look their best for competition. It requires far more planning and modification of the moves to get the same progressive overload. It’s simply easier to do with free weights.

Free weights are still the gold standard for building muscle.

Both free weights and resistance bands build muscle tissue, but it’s quicker with free weights. Part of the reason is how people use resistance bands. You won’t get the most benefits from resistance bands if you don’t stretch them to the maximum capacity. When you lift weights, you get the resistance the minute you lift them and that resistance is consistent throughout the entire workout. Each movement using resistance bands can vary the resistance.

  • If you’re only using home equipment occasionally and use the gym at other times, the best option may be resistance bands. They’re easy to store and don’t cost much. If you use them infrequently, they’re the best option.
  • Some people may have a problem with resistance bands due to a latex allergy. There are non-latex versions. Like free weights, always check bands for nicks, wear, and tear to stay safe.
  • Just like kettlebells, resistance bands can provide a full-body workout. You get strength and flexibility training, too.
  • Resistance bands can provide an alternative to keep you interested in exercise. It’s easier to vary your workout at the gym, but it becomes more limited and difficult at home. Resistance bands help break the monotony if you’re only doing bodyweight workouts.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Build Muscle Fast

Build Muscle Fast

At Iron Fit Strength and HIIT, we help you build muscle fast. We provide strength training, HIIT strength training alternatives, and nutrition counseling so you have the nutrients to build muscle and have a speedier recovery. Nutritional counseling also helps show off your muscles. If they’re buried under a layer of fat, how can anyone see them? You don’t need supplements to create muscle or dangerous drugs. You need the right training designed specifically to match your fitness level, lifestyle, goals, and special needs.

It all starts in the kitchen.

You need a diet that boosts the potential for muscle gain to give you speedier growth. What you eat makes a huge difference in whether you’ll be as successful as possible or fail. High-quality protein should be part of your diet, as well as healthy fats and carbs. Consider a pre-workout and post-workout snack to give you the energy to do your best and boost recovery. Our Macros Coach will provide the right plan for you that’s customized.

You won’t get quicker results by putting in long hours.

Some people want quicker results so they do an intense workout daily, exercising all muscles in their body for several hours. That’s counterproductive. Your muscles need some rest to heal. When you do strength training it causes micro tears in the muscle tissue. They need a day or two to heal and become stronger. Working out smarter is the best route and we provide that. Using HIIT—high intensity interval training—can keep your workouts shorter while being more productive. Don’t work the same muscles every day. Keep your workout under 75 minutes, especially if it’s intense.

Circuit training builds lean muscle mass.

You can get your desired results in one-hour sessions three times a week. Our circuit training will help build muscle and improve endurance with a high-energy workout that provides accountability. We focus on compound movements using kettlebells that provide whole-body training for a more efficient workout. Strength-building requires a multi-pronged approach that uses weights and bodyweight workouts to achieve desired goals.

  • It takes the right type of exercise and combinations of exercises to get faster results. That’s why using all types of strength-building programs gives faster results.
  • We modify the workout to match your fitness goals. People of all fitness levels benefit from the program. If you want to build muscles faster, change your workout and make it more difficult frequently as you become fitter.
  • Stay hydrated during workouts. Drink plenty of water an hour or two before you start. Sip water throughout your workout. Lack of hydration can drain your energy and make your efforts less efficient.
  • Getting adequate sleep is vital to building muscle tissue. Your body repairs all tissues when you sleep. Since building muscle starts by repairing muscle tissue, lack of sleep can limit muscle building.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Unlimited Motivation - How Do I Find That?

Unlimited Motivation – How Do I Find That?

If you dread going to the gym, finding unlimited motivation can be almost impossible. One of the first things you have to ask yourself is why you started your fitness program in the first place. Was it for health reasons? Focus on your family and how important it is to stay healthy or how good you’ll feel when you reach your goal. Picture yourself at your next doctor’s visit with your blood pressure or blood sugar normal.

Did you want to lose weight so you could look your best?

What made you decide to do it? Were you unhappy with how you looked or just realized how much you gained? Did you overhear a hurtful remark? That often is a driving force, just as a break-up is. In those cases, remember, the best revenge is success. Instead of wasting valuable energy crying over your loss or hating the person who hurt you, pour that unlimited motivation into getting fitter and more attractive. Before you know it, you’ll look great and be able to show off your new body.

Your motivation determines how you measure success.

If you want to lose weight to look better, success may be wearing a smaller size or having a healthy toned body. If your motivation was to get healthier, your measure of success may be lower blood pressure or more endurance climbing stairs. It’s why identifying that reason is so vital to success. Break your goal down into smaller increments you want to accomplish each week. Having immediate success can boost your motivation and keep you coming back for more.

Focus on how good you feel or how strong you’re getting.

Make your time at the gym a special time when you can get away from the hustle and bustle and get some peace. As you workout, focus on each muscle you work on and how good it feels to move it. After your workout, congratulate yourself on how well you did and how good you feel. When you sit down to eat, instead of worrying about the junk food you can’t have, enjoy the healthy food you do have. Chew each bite slowly and savor each bite. The pure joy healthy food brings can be a reward in itself.

  • Keep your weekly goals in front of you. Be determined to accomplish them. Having a smaller achievable weekly goal makes it easier for you to believe that you can do it.
  • Be realistic. No matter how motivated you are, if you’re almost six feet tall and large-boned, you’ll never be petite. Your mission is to create a goal you can believe in if you want unlimited motivation.
  • Remember, every journey starts with the first step. If you don’t feel like going to the gym, just go, but permit yourself to leave early. Once you’re there, you’ll probably stay the entire time.
  • Find a friend that has similar goals. Having a workout buddy can make a big difference. You can supply motivation for each other to go to the gym and cheer for each other’s successes.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


It's Not Too Late To Love Your Body

It’s Not Too Late To Love Your Body

If you think the only way to succeed at getting fit or losing weight is negative self-talk, you’re wrong. That’s the worst thing you can do if you want success. When you hate anything, whether it’s your body or another person, you don’t believe the object of your hate deserves anything. It doesn’t deserve to feel good or look good. You wouldn’t want to take care of a person you hate. That same feeling occurs when you hate your body. To ensure success, you need to love your body and ensure it gets healthy food and life-extending exercise.

Would you want to spend a lot of time with someone that hates you?

If your self-talk is negative, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Think about it. You should be your own best friend. If you don’t like and respect yourself, why should anyone else respect or like you? Your weight doesn’t define who you are. It’s just one aspect of your being. Find things you like about yourself and focus on them. Once you start to like yourself more, you’ll be more apt to take care of yourself.

Love your body and still lose weight.

Some people think that they must hate their bodies because doing otherwise is accepting the extra pounds. The truth is, you’re accepting today’s reality, not tomorrows. You can want to lose weight without hating your body or the extra weight. If you work in the garden all day or do messy tasks, you’ll end up dirty. That dirt is temporary and washes off. You don’t have to hate it to take a shower and get back to normal. That’s what a fitness program does for you. Those extra pounds are temporary and not part of who you are.

Start loving your body and look for ways to help it.

Notice how you feel after you exercise. It feels pretty good, doesn’t it? It comes from two sources. The natural changes in the body from exercise and the emotional boost when you know you’ve done something positive. Notice how you feel after you eat healthy compared to how you feel after eating junk. The more you focus on that, the more you’ll want to feed your body healthy foods.

  • Fear of failure can cause you to be negative. Some people believe that the only way they can succeed is with negative talk. That fear of failure may be what condemns you to lack of success.
  • Fat isn’t good or bad, it’s just fat. It’s not permanent either. Focus on the positive things you can do to improve your body rather than body shame. Besides diet and exercise, stay hydrated and get adequate sleep.
  • If you hate eating in front of others because you feel they judge you, stop! That causes eating disorders. Eat healthy foods and ignore others. You’ll be the perfect you in no time.
  • Look for ways to reward healthy behavior that doesn’t involve food. It can be a day at the spa, a special outfit, or just a few extra hours of peace.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Get The Confidence Boost You Need

Get The Confidence Boost You Need

There are many reasons people in San Antonio, TX, offer for the reason they can’t achieve their fitness goals. One of those is a lack of confidence that they can succeed. You can boost your potential for success by increasing your belief in your goal. Not only will boosting your confidence to achieve health goals help you achieve those goals, but that success, the healthy diet, and exercise program, will increase your confidence for other goals.

You have to know what you want.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a fitness goal or not, precisely identifying the goal can help you achieve it and boost your confidence. Instead of making a goal to lose weight, identify how much you want to lose. You’ll never get that feeling of success without a clear goal. Knowing your goal allows you to give yourself a realistic timeline and create the steps it takes to achieve it. You can break it down to mini goals you achieve in a week to experience that success along the way.

Track your progress and congratulate yourself on little wins.

Winners keep score. It doesn’t matter what your goal is, writing down your progress or storing your scoreboard on your phone or computer helps boost your confidence. It keeps your goal in the foreground and allows you to see progress in both the short and long run. For fitness goals, a picture is also worth 1000 words. Take a photo of yourself every month wearing the same clothing and standing in the same spot. It’s a good addition to your scorekeeping.

Even if your goal isn’t a fitness goal, exercise and a healthy diet help.

Exercising increases the hormones that make you feel good and burns off stress hormones. That can make you more confident immediately. The more you exercise, the better your posture becomes. Improving your posture makes you look more confident and that can make you feel more confident. Try this test. Stand in front of a mirror with your head down and shoulders slumped. Note how you feel. It probably feels like you’re defeated. Now pull your shoulders back and down. Hold your head up. Immediately you’ll feel a sense of confidence surge through your body.

  • If you’re still struggling with the confidence that you can achieve your goals, fake it. There’s an old saying, “Fake it until you can make it.” Act as though you’re going to achieve it.
  • Treat yourself as you would a good friend. Be aware of negative self-talk. If you’re constantly criticizing yourself, you are sabotaging yourself. Clean up your inner language and avoid others that diminish your confidence.
  • Visualize success. Mental imagery can do a lot to boost your success. Picture yourself succeeding. Include how great it feels to conquer your goals. That feeling of success carries over to real life.
  • No matter what your goal is, including exercise can help chase away stress and boost your energy level. The more energy you have and the stronger you are, the more confident you’ll be.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Best Supplements For Muscle Growth And Recovery

Best Supplements For Muscle Growth And Recovery

If you’ve spent much time around bodybuilders, you’ve probably heard a lot about supplements for muscle growth and recovery. The truth is that most people don’t need supplements if they have a good diet with adequate quality protein. Some supplements are supposed to help you recover faster, but so can a post-workout snack that contains carbs and protein. Some supplements help you build, but so can a healthy diet with healthy fat, carbohydrates, and quality complete protein.

The evidence that protein supplements help is limited, but there is evidence.

There are many reasons to take supplements to increase muscle growth. Sarcopenia is one of those reasons. Sarcopenia occurs as people age and starts in their mid-thirties. It’s the gradual loss of muscle tissue that most people face. Studies show that taking collagen, protein, and creatine supplements has reduced the problem and helped maintain muscle growth. Seniors may have trouble digesting protein, so taking supplements like creatine can help, along with resistance training.

Vitamin C and zinc help boost muscle recovery and increase muscle building.

Vitamin C is necessary to build collagen that’s vital to the creation of muscle tissue. It helps heal wounds like the microtears in the muscles that occur after an intense workout. It’s also anti-inflammatory, speeding up the recovery process. You can get it from your diet, but supplements can also help. Zinc supplements also improve tissue growth and repair.

Having a protein shake before working out or immediately following a workout may help.

Protein supplements used as a snack before a workout or afterward can help build muscle tissue. You can also do the same by eating a snack with both carbohydrates and protein. Before a workout, it helps replenish glycogen stores. Lack of glycogen stores can leave you weak mid-workout and lead to muscle soreness. After a workout, it helps boost recovery and build muscle tissue.

  • Look for labels like Certified for Sports that indicate NSF, an outside agency, tested the product and found it pure and free from harmful ingredients. Those harmful contaminants include mercury, arsenic, and other toxins.
  • Vitamin D supplements can help boost testosterone levels in people with low vitamin D levels. Testosterone helps build muscle tissue.
  • Never take supplements unless you speak with your healthcare professional first. Some interact with medications and others can cause issues if you have certain conditions. It’s always best to use your diet to increase muscle growth and improve recovery.
  • Sprinkling some turmeric on your food can help boost muscle recovery by reducing inflammation. It’s the curcumin in the turmeric that reduces inflammation and makes recovery faster.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Ways To Make Your Workouts More Effective

Ways To Make Your Workouts More Effective

Whether your life in San Antonio, TX, is hectic or laid back and relaxed, you probably want to make your workouts more effective. It saves time and produces better results. Not all exercises are equal in effectiveness. Some are better for getting quicker results or being just as beneficial in less time. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard or can do them once and see results immediately. There are no magic shortcuts.

Compound exercises work many muscle groups at once.

Some exercises only exercise one muscle group. They are isolation exercises like the barbell bicep curl. They only work one joint and muscle group. Compound exercises, like burpees, work several muscle groups at once, so you get more of a workout in a shorter time frame. There’s a place for both types of exercise when you workout, but if you want a quicker and more effective workout, using compound exercises helps.

Have a cup of coffee before you workout.

While you’re sipping coffee, have a pre-workout snack. The caffeine in the coffee stimulates the central nervous system to give a boost to your performance. A pre-workout snack composed of carbs and protein provides the energy to help you maximize your workout without hitting the wall mid-session. When the workout ends, top it off with a post-workout snack also composed of protein. It helps recovery and stimulates the muscle-building process.

High intensity interval training—HIIT—burns tons of calories in less time.

If you’re trying to lose weight, burning extra calories sounds enticing. So what is this miracle exercise? It’s not an exercise at all, but a way of doing all types of exercise. You start with a few minutes at peak intensity and then a few minutes at a recovery pace, returning to peak intensity when that’s complete. You rotate intensity throughout your workout. It’s perfect for building endurance and works faster than steady-state exercises. You can also use it with strength-building workouts.

  • You’ll get a full-body workout when you use kettlebells. It also boosts several types of fitness, strength, flexibility, endurance, and balance. You’ll also burn more calories when you do kettlebell routines.
  • Sip on water throughout your workout to keep your body working at full capacity. Even mild dehydration can sap your energy and make your workout less productive.
  • Reduce your rest time between sets, repetitions, and exercises. If your workout is intense, you can take longer between exercises than you would if you’re working at a moderate pace. Cutting out distractions, like phone calls, gets you out of the gym faster.
  • Add weights to your workout. Whether you’re walking, running, or doing bodyweight workouts, adding weights can increase the challenge. Holding weights while doing squats makes the workout more difficult.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Choosing Healthy Options This Holiday Season

Choosing Healthy Options This Holiday Season

If you want to be healthier, you have to make some changes or continue the program taking you toward good health. Sticking with a healthy meal plan and regular exercise is a start. It may feel impossible over the holidays, but you can do it. It’s a matter of selecting healthy options instead of unhealthy ones. Planning can make all the difference and so can a good night’s rest. If you lack sleep, the body produces more ghrelin—the hunger hormone, and less leptin—the one that makes you feel full. That can cause you to overeat and destroy your weight loss program or feel miserable trying to stick with it.

Plan ahead and don’t skip meals.

Some people skip breakfast and lunch if they know they’re going to a family smorgasbord-style meal. That can work against you. You’ll probably fill your plate and eat it fast when you finally do eat. That doesn’t give your stomach time to tell your brain it’s full, so you consume far more calories than you would otherwise. Eat a breakfast and lunch, so you aren’t ravenous. Permit yourself to have that special treat you look forward to eating but keep portion size in mind. Fill your plate with a healthy salad, then go easy on the bread, pasta, or high-calorie food.

Get some exercise and chill out.

The holidays can be stressful and packed with activities but make time for exercise. Exercise helps relieve stress, so you’ll enjoy the holidays more if you do it daily. If there’s no time for the gym, try to combine family activities with physical exercise. Walk through the neighborhoods and downtown to see the decorations or spend an afternoon with the kids walking through Christmas at the zoo or the museum. Do several shorter exercise sessions throughout the day when you have ten or fifteen minutes.

Prioritize your tasks.

Taking care of yourself and your family should be first. That includes your job and paying your bills. After that, you can prioritize everything. Not every task is equally important. Only you can determine which should take the top priority. Check your list and see if you can delegate some of the responsibility. You might find that others love helping out. Get the whole family together to make baked goods instead of spending your time alone in the kitchen. Even grown children will love learning your recipes and working together. It may become a new holiday tradition.

  • Plan on giving yourself some leeway at a holiday celebration that has delicious but often fattening food. Even if you do overeat, it’s not the end of everything, go back to a healthy diet the next day.
  • Try meal planning and prep. Meal planning and preparation can cut the time spent in the kitchen during the week and make it easier to choose healthier options.
  • Hydrate!!! It’s colder outside, so you’re not sweating, but that’s often when you forget to hydrate regularly. Carry water with you and sip on it throughout the day.
  • Make your meals healthier by changing some recipes. You can use applesauce to replace some of the oil or the sugar in a recipe. Use zoodles instead of pasta or substitute sweet potatoes for white potatoes.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Best Foods That Cut Your Cholesterol

Best Foods That Cut Your Cholesterol

There’s been a rise in interest in good health in San Antonio, TX. More and more people are coming to Iron Fit to improve their health. Some are here to lose weight. Others want to lower blood sugar levels, blood pressure, or cholesterol levels. Exercise helps with all those things, but so does eating healthy. The food you eat can do all those things. It can help you avoid the need for medication. A healthy diet not only can cut cholesterol, but it can also rebalance it, lowering the bad cholesterol and increasing the beneficial cholesterol.

Keep your arteries from clogging by cutting out food with added sugar and eating fruit instead.

When people think of cholesterol, they usually think of triglycerides, LDL—bad cholesterol, and HDL—good cholesterol. There are many functions that LDLs perform, so they’re vital to good health, but high amounts of LDL or triglycerides and low amounts of HDL can cause health issues. Sugar promotes an increase in LDLs and a reduction in HDLs. It can also cause increased triglycerides. That can lead to a fatty build-up in the arteries. Giving up food with added sugar and choosing food like apples, grapes, strawberries, and citrus fruits improves cholesterol levels. These fruits are high in soluble fiber pectin that reduces LDL.

Other types of fiber in whole foods also help.

As already noted, pectin, a type of soluble fiber is beneficial for lowering harmful cholesterol. When you eat food with soluble fiber, it dissolves into a gel. The gel traps the bad cholesterol and it also feeds beneficial microbes in your gut. A second type of fiber, insoluble fiber, can’t be digested, even by the gut microbes. It does promote a healthy gut microbiome, which does affect cholesterol levels. Increasing both soluble and insoluble fiber levels helps. Pears, peaches, oatmeal, and oranges are high in soluble fiber and can lower bad cholesterol levels.

Increasing food with omega-3 can help lower LDL levels.

There’s a reason doctors recommend eating fatty fish at least twice a week. Fatty fish like salmon contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. The body needs both omega-6 and omega-3, but it needs it in a specific ratio that ranges from one part omega-3 to four parts omega-6 to one part omega-6 to four parts Omega-3. Unfortunately, the average American diet has too much omega 6. It’s at least four times more than it should be. More omega-3 in your diet can reduce triglycerides and lower LDL levels. Besides fatty fish, increasing other foods like walnuts and flaxseed provides benefits.

  • Eliminate trans fats from your diet. While the FDA banned hydrogenated vegetable oil, trans fats can still be found in microwave dinners, pancake and waffle mix, some commercial baked goods, donuts, coffee creamer, and microwave popcorn.
  • Have a cup of tea, especially green tea. All tea contains catechins and quercetin, but green tea has the most attention. The catechins inhibit the creation of cholesterol and help prevent absorption. Tea lowers bad cholesterol levels.
  • Include more spices in your diet like turmeric and garlic to lower cholesterol. Sweet potatoes also lower cholesterol. Watermelon contains antioxidants that protect your body from free radicals that can raise bad cholesterol levels.
  • Choose meatless Mondays and substitute grains like quinoa and brown rice. When you eat animal products, make sure they come from pastured animals to boost omega-3 levels and lower cholesterol levels.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio