Fitness & Wellness

How To Start Working Out For Beginners

How To Start Working Out For Beginners

People have varied reasons to start working out. Some want to look more attractive. Others want to have the energy to keep up with their children. A health scare is another reason beginners often start. Novices frequently make crucial mistakes when they first begin. Those errors can set them back for months or even cause them to quit. Here are a few of those and ways to avoid them.

Don’t pull a Rambo when you start.

It happens all too often. Someone who never did anything more athletic than run to the kitchen for more snacks suddenly thinks they can compete with seasoned athletes. Put away your ego and take it easy. You may be able to push harder the first day, but you’ll pay for it for the week afterward. Start slowly. Don’t overdo it initially, or you’ll be too sore to do anything for a week. There will be plenty of time to push yourself later as you get fitter.

Focus on your form.

Sure, you want to do 100 squats or lift that extra ten pounds, but your form may suffer. The correct form is vital no matter how fit you are. Doing an exercise wrong diminishes the benefits and may cause injury. It’s even more important when you’re doing weight training. If you push too hard and try to lift too heavy, it magnifies the problems with your form and causes muscle strain and tears. Use a trainer, friend, or exercise in front of a mirror to ensure your form is correct.

Don’t forget to warm up and cool down.

A few minutes of warm-up exercises prepare both the muscles used and your cardiovascular system to exercise. Warm-up exercises should be dynamic stretches that mimic many of the movements you’ll do during your session. If you’re running, do calf stretches, pace, or jog. Lower body warm-ups can include jumping jacks and leg swings. Cool-down exercises help boost recovery and prevent blood from pooling in the extremities. One example is slowing your pace when running and walking for a few minutes.

  • When doing strength training, rest the muscles for 48-72 hours between sessions. That doesn’t mean you stay at home on the couch. You can work other muscles or do recovery workouts.
  • Make sure your workout program includes all types of fitness. It should have cardio, strength, flexibility, and balance exercises. To be truly fit, you need all four.
  • Track your workouts. Winners keep score. You can identify where you’re progressing and whether the exercises you’re using are helping. Track the progress toward your goal. If it’s to lose weight, track your weight.
  • Always check with your healthcare professional first before starting any exercise program. If they give you the okay, create attainable goals and an outline of how you’ll achieve them.

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


Is Cooking With An Air Fryer Healthy?

Is Cooking With An Air Fryer Healthy?

If you’re like many people in San Antonio, TX, you probably have an air fryer in your kitchen, either as a stand-alone or part of a combination oven. There’s a reason for the popularity of air fryers. It offers that crisp fried exterior and a similar fried food taste without the excess oil. That occurs due to a reaction within the food when it’s heated. You don’t use bottles of vegetable oil or have a massive clean-up afterward. It only takes a tablespoon of oil. Does it make food more healthy? Or are we fooling ourselves?

How does frying affect the food?

Fried food uses a lot of oil, but there’s always a lot left in the deep-fryer. Most people save that oil to reuse it the next time. It requires straining the oil to remove particles and ensure quality and safety. You don’t have that problem with the air fryer. You only use a small amount, leaving nothing to process after cooking. Air frying also reduces the potential of absorbing the oil. Some manufacturers claim air-fryers reduce the oil absorbed by 75% compared to deep-fried food. It didn’t affect the color or moisture content of the food either.

Less oil means fewer calories.

The more calories you eat, the more potential you have to gain weight. If you’re reducing the oil by eating air-fried food rather than deep-fried, you could cut your calories by as much as 80%. You also reduce the potential of a compound forming called acrylamide. The EPA—Environmental Protection Agency—says it’s a carcinogen. Air-frying food instead of deep-frying can lower the content of acrylamide by up to 90%.

Don’t be fooled.

Using an air fryer is not the total answer to a healthy diet. Just because it’s not as bad as deep-fried food, it doesn’t mean you should eat it daily. Your body needs vegetables and other healthy options. Give yourself a treat occasionally with air-fried food. Add plenty of salads and vegetable sides to your meal. Use the air-fryer to make rotisserie chicken rather than focus on breaded frozen mozzarella sticks or tater tots. It’s one more way to improve your diet, but not the whole answer.

  • You’ll save time in the kitchen when you use the air-fryer. You don’t have to preheat the oven to air-fry a small amount. There’s no messy clean-up, either. You save calories, time, and energy.
  • Air frying uses lower temperatures and shorter cooking time. Deep frying food increases the potential for the oil to undergo oxidation. That creates free radicals, which damage cells and cause health problems.
  • You can’t cook all types of food in air-fryers, nor would you want to do it. You can get creative and use the air-fryer to make healthier versions of food, like sweet potato fries or Mediterranean vegetables.
  • You can save money by using air-fryers to make grocery store rotisserie chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with Lawry’s seasoning salt or make a copycat version for more savings. It’s quick and delicious.

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


Best Workouts To Do In The Least Amount Of Time

Best Workouts To Do In The Least Amount Of Time

Life is busy. Often, it isn’t easy to fit everything into a day. Something has to give. Work or family isn’t an option. You can save time exercising by switching to smarter workouts. You get as much benefit in less time or find ways to manage your workout time. For instance, you may have short sections of time throughout the day. Those ten to fifteen-minute periods can be devoted to exercising. You don’t have to workout 30-45 minutes straight. You can break it up into three or four shorter sessions.

Save time with HIIT—high intensity interval training—workouts.

You don’t have to spend as much time when the exercise is more intense. Nobody can go at peak intensity for long. That’s where a HIIT workout enters the picture. HIIT is a way of exercising, not a particular exercise. You push your body at peak intensity for a specific time, such as a minute or two, then back down to a recovery pace or rest period if you’re doing strength training, for the same time or longer. Alternate the intensity between the two. One British study found more benefits from doing between 6 to 10 rounds of 60 seconds with intense exercise and 50 seconds of rest or recovery between.

Use kettlebells or circuit training.

Circuit training can save time when you don’t rest as long between sets. You can modify it to get a full-body workout and break it into several sessions throughout the day. Save time with kettlebell training. It can be a full-body workout that works every muscle in your body in less time than traditional exercise. You can incorporate strength, flexibility, balance, and cardio training into one shorter session.

Do compound bodyweight exercises or exercise in your cubicle.

Compound exercises exercise several muscle groups at once. Just like full-body workouts, it’s more efficient. Do bodyweight exercises and modify them to fit your location. Chair bodyweight exercises can be done at work when you have a break. Seated lean backs, seated cross-punches and kicks, and seated single-leg or traditional squats are good starts. Create a list of exercises you can do at your desk and sprinkle them throughout the day until you complete the entire list.

  • Double the benefits. Spend time with the kids in active play. You can exercise with them, play basketball, ride bikes, or hike. It’s all about moving your body. You’ll create family memories and help the kids live an active lifestyle.
  • Make time with friends more active. Instead of stopping for a drink, go to the gym and workout together. Spend an evening out dancing or a Saturday hiking. Walk to lunch instead of driving.
  • Find ways to increase your activity. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. If your destination is several flights, take the elevator part of the way and the stairs the rest. Park further from the store and walk.
  • The intensity used for exercise determines the time you need to spend. The more intense your workout, the less time necessary. Stay active when you’re not exercising. When you walk, focus on good posture and make your pace brisk.

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


Benefits Of Yoga For Mind And Body

Benefits Of Yoga For Mind And Body

At Iron Fit in San Antonio, TX, we emphasize the benefits of all types of exercise, particularly strength-building. We also create a program designed to address more than strength. It includes flexibility, balance, and endurance. Many of the exercises our trainers use are also yoga poses. Some yoga poses help build muscle strength and endurance. Others boost balance and flexibility. If you want variety, doing yoga on your days away from the gym can improve your mind and body.

Yoga can help reduce stress.

Stress causes illness and can aggravate existing maladies. When you’re under stress, it increases hormone production that prepares you to run or fight. It is beneficial if you’re in danger and must fight for your life or flee. Most stress today is not. Stress hormones increase inflammation, blood glucose, heart rate, and blood pressure. The hormones control your mood and physical and, with time, can create health issues. Yoga poses can help release body tension, increase lymphatic flow, and improve the immune system. The breathing techniques can relax the body and eliminate stress hormones to reverse the changes.

Yoga helps you sleep better and benefits heart health.

Reducing stress and inflammation can improve heart health. It helps lower high blood pressure, maintain a healthy weight, and return your body to normal functioning. It can help you relax and make falling asleep and quality sleep easier. When you sleep, your body heals, your mind reorganizes, and your heart rate slows. Your brain cleans itself and reorganizes when you sleep. That boosts your mental health.

You’ll improve flexibility to prevent muscle injury and reduce chronic pain.

Yoga poses improve your range of motion. As you stretch, you’re improving flexibility to reduce the potential of muscle injury when you do common daily movements. If you have sore muscles or joints, yoga can help relieve the pain. It helps relax muscles to relieve back and limb pain. It increases the flow of synovial fluid that lubricates joints to reduce the pain of arthritis and other ailments causing joint pain.

  • No matter what your fitness level is, you can do yoga. There’s a type of yoga or modification perfect for each person. Always check the recommended fitness level, especially if changes are necessary.
  • Yoga can help you lose weight. It doesn’t burn as many calories as other forms of exercise, but it makes you more mindful of your body’s needs. People often eat less after practicing yoga for a while.
  • Yoga is good exercise for people with joint issues. It’s low impact and can strengthen the muscles and tendons around the joints, relieving pressure. It can help relieve chronic headaches by reducing the number and the intensity.
  • Yoga is a good supplement to any fitness plan. You can also add yoga poses, like the bridge, which are part of traditional exercise programs. Always check with your healthcare professional before beginning an exercise program.

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


Unlock The Power Of Stretching

Unlock The Power Of Stretching

Stretching relieves stress. It increases blood flow. It increases circulation and a sense of calm. Stretching sends oxygen throughout the body and can increase your oxygen intake. The increased blood flow to the brain makes you more alert. That type of stretching is often involuntary. When stretching is deliberate and part of your fitness program, it brings a host of other benefits.

There are many types of stretching.

The two most often used are static and dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching is the type used for warming up before exercising. Static stretching is best performed after working out because the muscles are warm. Dynamic stretching prepares the muscles for the activities you’re about to do. It warms them and slowly increases your heart rate before you do more rigorous workouts. Static stretching helps prevent blood from pooling and is often used to improve the range of motion since muscles are more pliable and easier to stretch.

Stretching helps prevent injuries.

People frequently injure their muscles when they exercise because they have a limited range of motion. Stretching helps prevent that. It improves flexibility to make everyday tasks easier. Stretching is necessary for seniors. It prevents reduced mobility and muscle tightness that often occurs with age. An increased range of motion helps you perform physical tasks easier and prevents muscle injury. Stretching also helps improve balance. Improved balance can prevent injury from falls and diminishes functional fitness. Stretching allows people to perform physical tasks with ease and prevents muscle injury.

You’ll improve your posture and reduce pain by stretching.

Stretching helps you become or stay limber. If you’re constantly looking and looking at a computer screen, often your body bends forward. If you don’t stretch periodically, it becomes too painful to stand straight. Good posture is necessary for good digestion, breathing, and pain reduction. Stretching exercises help reduce chronic muscle cramps. It relieves back, neck, or shoulder pain.

  • Stretching can build core muscle strength. Strong core muscles create a flat belly, good posture, exceptional balance, and more energy. Stretching aligns your body so you use less energy.
  • Stretching helps you breathe deeper. That helps you relax. Raising your arms and reaching toward the ceiling, chest opener-thoracic extension stretch, and other chest stretches can open your chest to make breathing easier.
  • Regularly stretching can bring relief from headaches. If you have a sedentary job, get up, stretch your muscles, and walk around a few minutes every 50 minutes. Stretching is also beneficial for active recovery the day after an intense workout.
  • Our personal trainers can create a well-rounded program to help you reach your goals. It will include warm-up and cool-down stretches and stretches to improve flexibility.

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


Workouts To Burn Fat

Workouts To Burn Fat

Most people want to get fit and healthy. They want workouts that are the most effective for building muscle, burning fat, and improving energy levels. Dieting can help, but you have to be careful. If you don’t do the right exercises, you’ll lose weight. Unfortunately, you’ll also lose muscle tissue. You end up being a thin person with excess body fat. The best fat-loss exercises include more than cardio. Cardio burns a lot of calories, but they come from both muscle and fatty tissue. You end up with less muscle tissue. That makes it harder to lose weight. Muscle tissue requires more calories than fat tissue does, so the more you have, the higher your metabolism is.

Strength training sets calories on fire.

When you include strength training in your routine, you’ll build muscle as you burn calories. That doesn’t mean you give up cardio, balance, or flexibility exercises. Your body requires all types of fitness. Strength training can include bodyweight exercises or lifting weights. Combining the two, as in weighted squats, is ideal. You’ll burn fat and build muscle by doing burpees, push-ups, and plank jacks.

Turn your workout into a HIIT—high intensity interval training session.

HIIT isn’t a specific exercise but a way of doing any exercise. You push your body to peak performance doing HIIT workouts, then alternate the intensity between peak and recovery. That allows you to exercise at the maximum pace for longer. HIIT workouts provide calorie and fat-burning advantages while you’re doing it, but it goes a step further than other types of exercise. It continues to burn calories long after the workout ends due to EPOC—Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption.

No matter how hard you workout, if you don’t eat healthy, you won’t get results.

Great bodies start in the kitchen. No matter how hard you exercise, you won’t get the success you want if you aren’t eating healthily. Fast food is notoriously higher in calories and lower in nutrition, both of which are not good for building muscle and losing fat. Eating healthily and ensuring adequate dietary protein is vital to building muscle. Your body also requires carbs and healthy fat. Healthy fats, like the fat in avocados, contain the nutrients for building hormones that help fat loss.

  • HIIT workouts improve blood pressure, heart rate, and blood glucose levels. They can reduce insulin resistance, which contributes to obesity and body fat. You’ll also improve endurance quickly using HIIT.
  • Doing circuit training with no rest between exercises and little rest between circuits also burns fat. A circuit combining bodyweight exercises like jumping jacks, squats, and push-ups can change body composition by building muscle and burning fat.
  • One exercise that’s a combination of several others is burpees. It’s hard to do many, but they are great for building muscle and burning fat. You can create your workout or use the expertise of our trainers to help you reach your goals faster.
  • Adequate sleep is also necessary to build muscle and burn fat. When you sleep, your body heals. That allows it to build muscle tissue. Lack of sleep can cause an excess of the hunger hormone and diminish the satiety hormone.

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


Healthy Workouts While Seated

Healthy Workouts While Seated

People who work at a computer all day, sitting in their cubicles, often want seated workouts. Some people have an injury or can’t stand for long unassisted. Here are a few exercises you can do in a chair. Some won’t be appropriate for everyone, so choose those that fit your needs. You can still stay or get fitter, even when your job or your physical condition seems to fight you to prevent that from occurring.

Use your chair to your advantage.

Do push-ups in your chair. Grasp the sides of the chair with your knees bent and feet comfortably on the floor. Grasp the edge of the chair and lift your body off the seat by straightening your arms. Keep your knees bent at a 90-degree angle. Hold and slowly lower your body. You can also work your arms if you’re at the office and your chair is stable without wheels. Slide so your bottom is near the front edge of the chair. Straighten your legs, keeping your heels on the floor. Grasp the seat and slowly lower your body. Dip down and lift your body back in the chair.

Work your core muscles.

Do an oblique crunch. This exercise is for the more fit, but you can modify it by reducing your leg movement or limiting it. Sit in the middle of the seat with your feet flat on the floor and your back straight. Put your hands behind your head with your fingertips touching and elbows out. Lift your left knee and bend your body to the left side to touch your right elbow to the knee. Switch sides and do it on the right. An excellent core workout uses a towel. Sit in the middle of the chair, holding the towel in front of you with one end in each hand, shoulder-width apart. Slowly lean back, tightening your abs. Raise your body back to the starting position.

It’s easy to work your upper body using weights.

If you don’t have weights, use large soup cans or plastic drink bottles filled with water. You can do seated bicep curls, shoulder presses, front shoulder raises, and chest presses. If you have resistance bands, you can also use them. Hold a resistance band in each hand with your arms shoulder-width apart. Widen the space between your arms until the resistance is too challenging.

  • Do leg extensions. Sit forward with your arms to your side. Extend one leg with the heel on the floor and the other bent directly in front of you. Lift the extended leg as high as possible. Hold for a count of 10, lower, and repeat with the other leg.
  • Don’t forget to stretch. Head rolls and shoulder rolls can prevent headaches. Stretching your arms directly up and then leaning back can relieve back pain.
  • Tighten your stomach and hold. Sit straight, exhale, and pull in your stomach. Hold as tight as possible. Then relax as you inhale. Repeat.
  • Chair exercises can build strength and tone muscles. They can improve cardiovascular health and help maintain flexibility. You’ll boost circulation, improve balance, and heal faster.

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


Essentials For Every Gym Bag

Essentials For Every Gym Bag

If you checked everyone’s gym bag in San Antonio, TX, you’d find a wide range of items. Some are essentials specific to that person, but in most cases, there are things everyone carries to the gym. The bag will vary by the timing and whether the person dresses for the gym and changes to street clothes after working out or wears street clothes there and changes before working out. In both cases, workout shoes will be in the bag. The type of shoes, weight-lifting, cross-training, and lightweight agility shoes will vary by the activity at the gym.

Workout clothing should be layered and comfortable.

The clothes you wear for working out should be comfortable. They should have several layers you can remove as your body warms. The material should be breathable and allow body heat to escape. Newer materials are wickable. It leaves you dry by keeping the sweat away from the body. The fabric should move with you and allow maximum range of motion. Clothing that stretches is the best. It should easily adapt to your movements while being fitted enough to check your form if you’re learning new exercises.

Make sure you have a water bottle.

When you workout, you sweat. The potential for dehydration becomes greater. If you carry a refillable water bottle with you, you can sip on it throughout the workout. You can purchase a special gym water bottle that’s insulated to keep water cold, or bring along a bottle of water from your fridge or buy some on the way to the gym. When it’s empty, fill it at the fountain in the gym. If there’s no fountain, take several bottles.

Take your toiletries.

Have a second set of everything you use in the morning in a plastic bag you keep permanently in your gym bag. It should include deodorant, comb or brush, toothbrush and paste, soap, and other products that are part of your routine. It doesn’t cost that much to have it ready to go. For women, carrying a small hair dryer, dry shampoo, or a sweat-wicking hair band or wrap and wearing a style like a braid can be an option. If you’re going to work, keeping a second collection of skin care products and makeup is essential.

  • Use two sets of gym clothes. When you get home, throw one set in the washer and pack the other immediately. You’ll be ready in the morning even if you forget to repack them.
  • Your workout wear is vital. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune or be the latest fashion design. It does need to be comfortable. Never wear tight clothing that restricts your breathing.
  • If you’re lifting weights, packing a weight belt is essential. The type of workout belt you choose depends on your needs. Leather is more durable and offers more support, while nylon provides more flexibility if you need a wider range of motion.
  • Take a towel if your gym doesn’t supply them. Put a large trash bag to carry it home after you use it. Pack an extra set of undergarments and socks.

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


Are Fitness Trackers Really Necessary?

Are Fitness Trackers Really Necessary?

Technology has come a long way in the last decade or two. Phones are smaller and have multiple apps to provide products at your fingertips or answers to tough questions. It’s entered the personal health market with fitness trackers and ways to track everything from heartbeat to miles traveled. Are these beneficial for people focusing on health or simply a novelty that’s fun to use? Not all fitness trackers look alike. Some are rings, some watches, and some are apps for your phone. Your needs will determine the best one for you.

Why are you getting a fitness tracker?

One phone app you may have seen advertised monitors your heart rate for irregularities. Before you shop for your tracker, determine why you want it. Are you trying to lose weight or get in shape and want something that tracks your exercise and steps? Are you training for a marathon and need a tracker to measure miles, time, and heart rate? When you purchase this type of technology, your goals should match your performance. If you don’t, you’re wasting your money. It’s like buying a gym membership and never going to the gym. You won’t get fitter if you don’t use it.

Does the fitness tracker have too many functions or not the right kinds?

You probably don’t need to know your Vo2 levels unless you’re an advanced athlete. People just entering the world of fitness trackers with average to limited technology knowledge are better off using simple ones with fewer, less complicated functions. Ones that track activity, sleep, heart rate, or blood pressure can be beneficial. Before you purchase a fitness tracker, learn how to use it and what it measures. It may have multiple functions, but not the one you need. Being too complex is one drawback of more sophisticated trackers.

If you’re tracking your health metrics, you can help your doctor.

Trackers offer all types of information. If you think you’re constantly tired, tracking your sleep can help. It can identify the quantity and quality of sleep. Blood pressure monitoring is another benefit, like the tracker that identifies irregular heartbeats. Sleep scores, blood oxygen levels, period predictions, and other information can be beneficial, too. Tracking calorie intake and expenditures is also valuable for people trying to lose weight. As with every tool, knowing how to use it and consistently using it improves results.

  • If you’re sedentary, fitness trackers can help get you moving and keep you moving. It makes exercising a game where you’re challenged to improve every day.
  • Apps that track the intensity of your workout can lead to a more productive session. It functions like a personal workout buddy to help keep you on track and pushing hard.
  • One drawback to many apps and trackers is the lack of accuracy. A waterproof tracker is also important if swimming or the potential for water damage exists.
  • If trackers have multiple features you’ll never use, you pay extra without getting the benefits. It also depletes the battery faster. Fitness trackers are beneficial, but only if you choose the right one for your needs.

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


Lose Body Fat And Preserve Muscle Mass

Lose Body Fat And Preserve Muscle Mass

Preserving muscle mass is important for everyone, especially people who want to lose weight. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn since muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain. If you’re trying to lose body fat, saving your muscle mass is vital to your future progress. You’ll also look and feel better when you maintain or build more muscle tissue. The more muscle tissue you have, the thinner you’ll appear compared to your weight. One cubic inch of muscle mass weighs more than a cubic inch of fat. That means a pound of fat needs a bigger container than a pound of muscle. It’s like comparing the container for a pound of feathers to a pound of metal.

Focus on losing weight more slowly.

You can lose more weight with an extremely low-calorie diet, but that rapid weight loss means you lose muscle mass. Slow the weight loss by eating more calories, but still fewer than your body needs to maintain weight. One study followed two groups of obese people. One group ate an extremely low-calorie diet of 500 calories for five weeks. The other group ate a low-calorie diet of 1250 calories for 12 weeks. Both groups lost similar amounts, except the first group lost it in just five weeks. That group also lost significantly more muscle mass.

Add exercise to the mix.

Your body needs cardio, but it causes loss of both fat and muscle tissue. Instead, strength-building maintains and builds muscle mass while also burning calories. Doing intense workouts like HIIT—high intensity interval training—burns even more calories. It’s a technique that alternates the intensity of the workout between high intensity and a recovery pace. When you combine it with strength-building, you’ll maximize your weight loss and maintain or even build muscle tissue.

Focus on your diet and where you’re getting calories.

Your body needs protein to build and maintain muscle tissue. A nutritious diet is vital to that effort. Some people feel that cutting all fats from the diet is necessary for weight loss, but that’s not true. Your body also needs healthy fat. You need approximately 15% of your calories from a source of healthy fat. Fat is necessary for building muscle tissue and burning body fat.

  • Find the number of calories for your ideal weight and reduce your intake to 500 calories lower. Then, increase your exercise time by doing strength training at least twice a week. You’ll build muscle and slowly lose fat.
  • Women shouldn’t worry about building too much bulk. Your hormones work against the potential to build excess muscle like men do. You’ll get a leaner, toned look.
  • Get adequate sleep and stay hydrated. Sleep helps your workout be more productive. It also helps balance the hunger and satiety hormones so you’re not constantly hungry.
  • When you burn more muscle tissue, you’ll notice you’re more tired and sluggish. It makes exercising harder and negatively affects your gym performance. Burning excess muscle mass can make you feel moody and negatively impact mental health.

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