Fitness & Wellness

The Link Between Sleep And A Strong Immune System

Published by superadmin on May 16, 2020 | Leave a response

Whether you’ve made changes in your lifestyle by eating a healthier diet, hydrating and exercising regularly, you may be one of the millions of Americans that fail to get adequate sleep. Many people even pride themselves in burning the candle at both ends. What they and millions of others don’t understand is the connection to sleep and strong immune system. Lack of sleep can also cause other health issues, too.

When you sleep, your T-cells create cytokines.

Cytokines are a protein that responds to infection and inflammation, providing a stronger immune response. When you sleep, they’re not only created, they’re also released, so your immune response is doubly compromised. Without them, you’re leaving yourself open to seasonal flu, colds and other diseases. In fact, they also make flu vaccines less effective.

In order to kill a virus or cancer cells, you need more sleep.

When you’re under stress, hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline are created. These hormones and pro-inflammatory prostaglandins prevent T-cells from sticking to cancerous cells and cells that are infected with a virus. The T-cells need to be able to stick to the cells to do their job as part of the immune system. When you sleep, levels of those hormones are lowest, allowing the integrin stickiness to occur, and providing more direct contact with the T-cells to boost your immune system.

Sleep helps you eat healthier and maintain weight.

If you’re overweight, you’re far more susceptible to many diseases, even some that don’t possibly seem related, like viruses. When you skimp on your hours of rest, it affects your hormone balance of leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone that makes you feel full. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone. Lack of sleep suppresses the leptin and increases the amount of ghrelin, so you’ll eat more. Of course, the more you eat, the more weight you gain. To make matters worse, people who lack sleep often reach for sweet treats for instant energy. Refined or added sugar also compromises the immune system.

You need at least seven hours of sleep on a regular basis, if not more. Lack of it triggers a stress response and the release of hormones that can negatively affect your health.
The quality and quantity of sleep changes as you age. The older you get, the less rested you may feel, even after a full eight hours.
If you sleep less than seven hours of sleep for three consecutive nights, it affects the body as badly as missing an entire night’s sleep. Even reducing your sleep to five hours a night regularly, increases your risk of dying.
Chronic lack of sleep can cause insulin resistance, increase levels of cortisol, encourage weight gain, inhibit blood sugar regulation, increase inflammation and cardiovascular disease.

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

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Positive Mental Thoughts Are Necessary For Wellness

Published by superadmin on May 3, 2020 | Leave a response

You don’t have to live in San Antonio, TX, to fret about things, worry about things and even to stay up all night with thoughts of things they can’t control. It’s somewhat human nature. In fact, so much so, for centuries, the hierarchy in various religions spent hours learning how to mellow out and focus on the good in the universe. Today, we are finding more and more reasons to develop a happier attitude and positive mental thoughts. It’s not only important for your spirit, it’s important to your overall wellness.

Positive mental thoughts aren’t positive thinking.

There’s a big difference between saying everything is wonderful and you’ll be alright if your house is on fire and you’re sitting in the chair waiting for the firemen, rather than leaving the house and focusing more on positive things than all the negative in your life. You can’t solve problems without looking at what went wrong. However, stressing over it to the point of inactivity or keeping your mind honed into negative things that are out of your control won’t help either. It simply causes stress and stress causes illness.

Uncontrolled anger, fear and worry can raise blood pressure and more.

One of the supplementary treatments for high blood pressure that’s becoming more popular is meditation. Exercise is also another recommendation. Both help relieve stress. Chronic stress creates an imbalance in the body’s hormone levels. It decreases lifespan and shortens the telomeres on the DNA, which prevent damage that causes aging and disease. Stress creates digestive disease and reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and the body’s ability to fight disease.

You don’t have to be out of control to feel the effects of anxiety and depression.

A large group study showed that even mild stress that’s chronic could shorten your life and cause you to be 20% more likely to die in the next ten years. Another study adjusted for pre-existing conditions that were likely to cause a negative attitude and also shorten lifespan. What did the most recent study find? If you remove the people that already had conditions that likely induced stress, adjusted for smoking, pre-existing anxiety and depression, smoking, excessive drinking, weight and exercise as well as health conditions, the study showed that there was a 29% increased risk of people dying from heart disease and stroke earlier with even mild distress. Moderate distress increased that risk to 43% and high stress raised it to 94%

Combat stress with healthy lifestyle changes. Exercise burns off the hormones of stress, while also lengthening telomeres.
Find ways of meditating or clearing your mind, such as self-hypnosis, relaxation techniques, and breathing techniques. Even having a pet can lower anxiety levels.
Take an attitude of gratitude. When you’re focusing on negative, that’s what you’ll see. Wake up each morning and make a mental list of ten things you’re grateful for having in your life.
Developing a positive attitude helps build strength for tough times. It doesn’t deny hard emotions but builds the strength to know they can overcome the challenges that face them, and it will make them better for having done that.

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

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Find your Work-Life Balance

Published by superadmin on April 26, 2020 | Leave a response

If you constantly stress out at home about situations at work, you probably don’t have a good work-life balance. There is a critical balance for people between the demands of a working life and those of a personal life. Too little work can lead to inadequate income, lack of sense of purpose and lack of job security. However, in America, the pendulum tends to swing the other way, favoring work over other aspects of living.

Do you find you’re constantly answering work emails at home?

That could be a sign that your work has invaded your personal life. It can also mean you’re apt to burnout and not perform as well as you should. People need a respite from work to clear their minds and regain their sense of self that doesn’t have to do with a paycheck or their employer. When you allow your work to infiltrate your life, you’re out of balance. If you’re working long hours or having work related incidences interrupt your time off, you need to find a way to correct the situation. Talk to your employer if the situation isn’t temporary and potentially getting worse. Adopt a team approach where supervisors share responsibility and all after hours emergencies go to the supervisor of the night.

Your family will appreciate the change and so will your employer.

If you leave your work at the office and don’t carry the problems with you, it does two things. It provides you with an opportunity to give your family and/or friends the full time they deserve, while giving your brain a much-needed rest. Your employer will appreciate your new-found focus when you’re in the office and children, spouse or friends will enjoy the person that cares about them and is present in the moment.

Your health can suffer from focusing too much on work.

Your immune system doesn’t function nearly as well when you’re under stress. Stress causes a wide variety of symptoms and can leave you more vulnerable to conditions such as the flu, cold or even life threatening conditions. If you have a poor work-life balance, you’re more prone to illness, which means more missed days at work or working less efficiently when you’re there.

When you’re at your busiest at work, it’s the most important time to ensure you’re eating healthy and working out regularly. Unfortunately, it’s also when time is most important. Planning meals ahead and getting into the routine of working out, before the rush occurs, helps.
If you’re having problems letting go of the stresses of the day, a tough workout can help. It burns off the hormones of stress and can revitalize you and help you clear your mind.
There’s been a lot of research into the imbalance of work and life. Four day work weeks, working from home a day or two a week or job sharing have been some methods of that have proven helpful.
To avoid working yourself to illness, you can prioritize tasks by urgency and ensure that your family/social times, workout and healthy diet are top priorities.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Lifting Techniques, Proper Weight Placement And Posture

Published by superadmin on April 13, 2020 | Leave a response

The first things we focus on at Iron Fit in San Antonio, Texas, are lifting techniques, proper weight placement and posture. Those factors are important whether you’re lifting a box, a child, barbells or kettlebells. In other words, they’re always important. You’ll help prevent injuries when you use proper form. Proper form allows you to work on those muscle groups you intended, workout longer, prevent muscle imbalance and injuries. It helps you stay safe so you can workout longer and progressively get stronger.

Warm up first before you start.

Start by making sure your muscles are ready for the workout. The warmup can get your cardiovascular system going and increase the flow of blood to your muscles. It helps loosen tendons, ligaments and joints. Warming up can be as simple as jogging lightly or any other aerobic exercise. Don’t try to lift too much too soon and focus more on quality, rather than weight and quantity. You should start with a weight you can lift approximately 12 to 15 times comfortably. It’s better to go too light when you’re learning proper technique, than to make the mistake of going too heavy.

Proper form is top priority.

When you’re lifting weights, you need to ensure you’re moving through your full range of motion for your joints. Rather than pushing through lifting heavier weights, with a potential for injury. You need to focus on form when you’re just beginning. Good form doesn’t guarantee you’ll never have an injury, but it reduces the chances significantly. Don’t forget, proper form is important outside of the gym, too. It’s also important when you’re taking or replacing weights from the rack.

Good posture is important both in and outside the gym.

When you focus on good posture, you’ll prevent abnormal wearing of joints, ensure your joints and bones are correctly aligned so muscles are properly used and relieve stress to the ligaments in the back that maintain the joints in the spinal column. Good posture also helps prevent early fatigue due to more efficient use of the muscles, which means less energy is used. Not only does proper posture help prevent the spine moving to abnormal positions, it helps reduce the potential for backache.

How you breathe while lifting makes a difference. Don’t hold your breath. As you lift, breathe out and as you lower the weight, breathe in.
Workout slower, especially at first. An unhurried, controlled way and taking it slowly helps you isolate the muscle groups you want to work, rather than depending on momentum.
Make sure you work all groups of muscles in your program. If you’re working with a personal trainer, the trainer does that for you. If you’re working out on your own, balance your workout for opposing muscles and include muscles in the hips, legs, chest, back, abdomen, shoulders and arms.
Make sure you take at least a day break after strength training to ensure your muscles have time to repair and recover. Never work the same muscle groups two days in a row.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Confidence In A Gym Environment

Published by superadmin on April 3, 2020 | Leave a response

If you find that you’re putting off getting started with your workout program because you lack confidence in a gym environment, it’s time to change your thinking. Too often people use the excuse that they aren’t comfortable in a gym because they don’t know how to workout, feel out of place because they’re overweight or they don’t have the toned body they want. Some feel that others will stare or laugh at them due to their lack of knowledge or physical condition. While those may be your excuses, they’re also the reasons you need to workout.

If you’re afraid you can’t do the workout or embarrassed by being too out of shape, start at home.

Some people worry they won’t even be able to do a complete workout at the gym. For those people, starting slowly at home could be the best route to take to give them confidence. You can start slowly by simply ensuring you’re walking at least a half hour a day. As you get stronger, walk faster or longer. You can even break the walking to three sessions that last 10 minutes or more. Try a few bodyweight exercises at home, such as planks or squats.

Just don’t worry about what others think.

I am in the gym continuously and feel that everyone at Iron Fit is non-judgemental. Each person is focused on their own workout and they don’t have time or the inclination of watching anyone else. In fact, if anything, people normally have empathy for the newbie, remembering their days of confusion and discomfort.

If you’re concerned that you don’t know what to do, get help from an expert.

Most people aren’t experts when it comes to exercise. It’s why there are personal trainers. Our personal trainers work with people in smaller groups and help them not only know what exercises to do, but also teach each person proper form, so they get the most from the workout and have the least potential for injury. That’s one reason you get fast results. We never push you past what you can safely do, but do help you reach your goals faster.

When you workout with a trainer, the trainer assesses your level of fitness and creates a workout that’s directed at your weaknesses, while building on your strengths.
Workout with a friend. A workout buddy can make all the difference. Not only do you feel more comfortable when you know someone, the workout buddy will keep you accountable for going.
Dress for the part. You don’t have to go out and buy the latest workout outfit, but make sure you have comfortable clothes that breathe and wick sweat. Having the proper shoes is important. When you look good, you feel more confident.
When you sign up to workout, check with the employees for the time that will have the least number of people. Working out when the gym is less crowded can help relieve some of the discomfort that comes from lack of confidence.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Protein Powder Vs Protein Water

Published by superadmin on March 25, 2020 | Leave a response

I’m always glad to help clients in San Antonio, Texas, when it comes to fielding questions on the latest fitness craze or health food or drink. Recently, some of my clients have asked about the benefits of protein water and whether it’s as good as simply using the protein powder and making a shake. There’s a lot of reasons to use both. Most protein water is whey protein isolate that’s taken from cow’s milk and then it’s added to water. The protein water doesn’t always have to start with whey protein. It can be made of other types of animal-based proteins or plant-based, which is good for people with lactose intolerance or dietary needs.

Protein powder is often versatile.

What’s the difference between protein powder and protein water? The water! Protein powder is solid and can be scooped out, added to your favorite food or drink, whether it’s almond milk, yogurt or even fruit juice. You know exactly the amount you add, so tracking calories and amount of protein consumed is easy to measure. You can use it in snacks, desserts, baked items and smoothies. Protein water is ready to drink and premixed, which makes it easier.

Not all protein powder or protein water is alike.

Just like anything, there are quality, taste and content issues with both types of protein. Some protein water is actually high in calories because of sugar added and artificial flavoring. Avoid brands of protein water that have a lot of artificial additives if you’re consuming it frequently. Whether you’re buying protein powder or using protein water, read the label first. Make sure it’s pure and the right choice for your needs.

Using protein water could be a good alternative if you’re trying to shed a few pounds.

If you’re reading labels, you’ll find that some protein water is far higher in calories than others are. People trying to drop a few pounds, while building muscle tissue, need to monitor each calorie carefully. If you’re using protein powder in a shake, it might be far better to switch to protein water and choose a low calorie option. You’ll get the protein intake you need after a tough workout without the extra calories.

While you could make your own protein water by simply adding protein powder to water, it often doesn’t have a desirable taste. Many types of protein water have addressed that issue, but in the process, added calories, too.
With added protein in so many products, drinking protein water may be overdoing it. Be careful about the number of protein consumed regularly, particularly if you have kidney or difficulty metabolizing protein.
If you want an easy to use recovery drink or food, protein water could be your go-to choice. However, whole food like Greek yogurt or even a chicken breast would provide even more nutrients and just as much protein and a side of plain water would be healthier.
While protein powder is more versatile, protein water is easy to use. Like all types of proteins, used occasionally, rather than replacing whole food protein intake, is the key to success.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Malfunctioning Digestive System?

Published by superadmin on March 15, 2020 | Leave a response

If you have a malfunctioning digestive system, you probably hate the way you feel after you eat and even limit your diet because of it. There are a lot of different degrees of dysfunction, so I’m just going to address things like bloating, heartburn, gas, diarrhea and constipation that are uncomfortable, but not serious. While all reoccurring problems should be discussed with your health care professional, if the issue is determined to be minor, but ongoing, making lifestyle changes may be what you need.

Exercise may be a top priority for your digestion.

If you’re bloated or gassy, nothing sounds less desirable than doing jumping jacks or sprinting down the road. However, exercise could be extremely helpful with the condition. Walking can be extremely helpful after a meal. There are studies that show that walking helps move the food through your system after a meal and lowers blood sugar levels. It also helps pass gas through the system, to eliminate that bloated feeling. Intense exercise isn’t recommended, however, since it can create more digestive problems.

Regular exercise helps digestion in the long range, too.

A program of regular exercise can help strengthen your digestive system. It can help with constipation and strengthen the muscles in the system. It can increase the beneficial microbiota—digestive bacteria and etc.—that aids with digestion and help lower the risk of colon cancer. That improvement in the microbiome can make digestion better, eliminating much of the gas and distress you may have had months earlier. Regular exercise has proven to help relieve gas, stomach cramps, constipation and heartburn.

Your belly bugs will be happy when you eat healthier.

Your gut contains microbiome that is responsible for a vast array of functions from boosting your metabolism to digestions. You couldn’t survive without them. Not only does exercise help boost the friendly ones, so does what you eat. Increasing your fiber intake helps. Be careful when you do that. Increasing it too much at one time can have a negative effect. Fermented food can help improve your gut microbiome. Choose food like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi. Increasing fresh fruit and vegetables that are high fiber also helps.

There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble, which help the digestive tract. Soluble fiber turns to a gel when mixed with water and insoluble fiber provides bulk. Both help prevent constipation.
Drinking plenty of water can help digestion. Your body needs water to help food break down after a meal so it can absorb the nutrients. It also helps keep stool soft to help relieve constipation. Drink eight 8-oz glasses of water a day.
Cut out sugar. Sugar decreases the number of healthy bacteria and feeds the harmful microbes that interfere with digestion.
Take a short break from eating. Studies show that intermittent fasting can help all of the body, including digestion.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Eating Fruit In The Morning

Published by superadmin on March 3, 2020 | Leave a response

Everywhere you look on the internet, there’s another article on miracle cures, super foods and what or when you should eat. One of those myths is about the consumption of breakfast and even whether eating fruit in the morning is healthy. The truth is, fruit is a healthy option no matter when you eat it. One of the reasons this myth was started is the sugar content of fruit. Whether you eat it in the morning or afternoon, it temporarily increases your blood sugar as the glucose is absorbed. Unlike some of the myths that promote it, it doesn’t “wake up” the digestive system or jump starts it. It’s a carb and as a carb, provides energy.

Fruit provides a lot of nutrients like vitamin C.

While you might get all the vitamins and minerals in a glass of fruit juice, eating the whole fruit is a better choice for breakfast. Whole fruit has fiber, which makes it a better choice than drinking a glass of fruit juice. Fiber comes with its own benefits, such as making you feel fuller longer and slowing the absorption of sugar, keeping blood sugar more level. It provides bulk, which aids in digestion issues and helps lower the risk of diabetes.

Eating just fruit in the morning may not provide the satisfaction a more well rounded breakfast does.

In order to feel satisfied longer and not face that mid morning hunger or slump, you need a combination of food. Lean protein and healthy fat will keep you feeling full, while a complex carbohydrate gives energy and fills you up. Fruit satisfied the need for a complex carb, while adding bulk in the form of fiber to help your digestion. If you don’t include healthy fat or protein, like nuts, you’ll probably face an urgent hunger long before lunchtime occurs.

Pair your fruit with healthy options for a quick, filling breakfast.

If that piece of fruit you ate isn’t making it as a complete meal, which is most probable, pair it with other food. Whether you opt for blueberries, strawberries or raspberries in a cup of Greek yogurt and topped with your favorite nut or simply have a half grapefruit with toast and nut butter or an egg, you’ll feel fuller longer and get a ton of nutrition.

If you enjoy having a bit of fruit at breakfast, watch your calorie intake. Try options like papaya and cantaloupe that are lower in calories for weight loss. Fruit that’s higher in calories, which includes bananas, cherries and grapes are far higher in calories, so choose wisely.
While eating fruit is healthy, you can get too much of a good thing. While whole fruit is healthy, you also need healthy protein and fat, as well as a higher amount of vegetables in your diet.
Avoid canned fruit with extra sugar added. However, frozen and canned options that have no additional sugar are just as healthy of options as fresh fruit, unless you pick it off the plant. They’re processed fresher than you’d buy in the grocery.
At Iron Fit, we can help you with a program of exercise and when combined with healthy eating, will help you live healthier and shed unwanted pounds.

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

This Is Your Year To Shine

Published by superadmin on February 25, 2020 | Leave a response

If you’re already a member of Iron Fit in San Antonio, Texas, you probably already have your goals set and are ready to start your program to accomplish them. For those who are considering a fitness program, this could be your year to shine. It takes determination, persistence, hard work and keeping your eye on the prize, but it can be done. In fact, we actually have a 28 day challenge to help you get a jump start on your goals.

It all starts with knowing where you are right now.

One of the biggest benefits of working with a personal trainer is getting the help of assessing your present fitness level. The journey to fitness is like any other trip you take. In order to create a map to get you to your destination, you have to know where you’re starting. Using that information, the trainer then designs a program that’s tough, but still within your capabilities.

Creating weekly goals is also important if you want to shine.

Breaking down a big goal to smaller ones help you stay on track better. It’s far easier to check your progress each week and make adjustments along the way. What are the types of things you monitor with these goals? They can include your diet, sleeping habits, hydration and workout program. We find that circuit training gets results fast, so when you workout at Iron Fit, you may even exceed your goals.

Working out with others, a workout buddy or personal trainer helps you stay on track.

Whether you use the services of a personal trainer, have a workout buddy or simply workout in a group, you’ll do better than if you workout alone. Both a personal trainer and a workout buddy keep you accountable, encouraging you to workout when you might not feel like it. That encouragement isn’t verbal, but just knowing you’re meeting with someone. Working out with a buddy, in a group or with a trainer can push you to workout harder and longer, rather than quitting early.

In order to shine and achieve, you have to create a goal that’s truly yours and something you really want to achieve. If you’re starting a program because a friend or partner said you should, you won’t be as invested in success.
Workout smart and get the quickest results. Circuit training can help you do that. Results are super motivating and give you a chance to shine early on, to help you reach your ultimate goal later.
You can achieve anything you set your mind to do. It’s all about believing in yourself and providing that mental can-do attitude.
Enjoying your workout helps keep you on track. At Iron Fit, we have a program that’s varied that’s challenging and fun. If you’ve never tried kettlebells before, it’s an experience most people really enjoy.

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

Posted in Fitness & Wellness

Wake Up – Kick Butt – Repeat

Published by superadmin on February 16, 2020 | Leave a response

There are no mysteries about getting fit. It’s just a matter of doing it. You simply wake up, kick A@#, repeat. That’s the real secret behind fitness, but there are also many other things that can help you reach your goals faster. Consider combining a healthy diet with your workout. Not only will you lose weight faster, you’ll feel better and get more from the workout and every waking moment. A healthy diet devoid of processed food can put pep in your step so you have the energy to maximize your workout.

Add strength training to your workout.

Strength training not only provides a great deal of benefits for your health, it also helps melt fat away faster. While endurance training burns huge amounts of calories, too, it also burns lean muscle mass. When you do strength training it burns calories while also building muscle mass. The more muscle tissue you have, the easier it is to shed weight. That’s because muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue does. Strength training also stimulates after burn, which raises the number of calories you burn for up to 48 hours.

Circuit training gets you to your goal quicker.

You can target multiple muscle groups at once with circuit training. Each routine is a mix of exercises to help you reach your goal quicker. Circuit training is a time saver. As you swiftly move from one exercise to another, you’ll boost your cardio health and burn calories, which helps you reach your weight loss goal quicker.

Vary your workout.

One of the reasons Iron Fit offers so many different types of exercise options is that each one has something to offer. It’s also to help motivate clients. While you might not love calisthenics, you might love doing kettlebells or kicking and punching your way to fitness. It’s one reason Iron Fit has so many different options available and introduce them to each client. You might not think you’ll love a specific method of exercise, but once you try it, end up loving it. Not only does varying your workout avoid boredom and plateauing, it ensures every muscle is worked on every plane.

Don’t make the gym the only place to get exercise. Whenever you get the chance to walk a little further, do it. Park further from the grocery door. Take breaks from sitting and move around every 50 minutes.
Vary your speed. Whether you’re walking, working out or cleaning house, varying your speed from top speed to recovery speed every few minutes acts like a high intensity interval training session.
Get adequate sleep. You can’t do your best if you’re not getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep can cause you to eat more by disrupting the balance of leptin and ghrelin hormones.
Use a workout that’s created specifically for your fitness level and needs. We create it for you at Iron Fit.

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

Posted in Fitness & Wellness