Fitness & Wellness

Meal Plan Like A Pro

Meal Plan Like A Pro

Published by on November 15, 2022 | Leave a response

There’s a reason we have a Macros Coach available. Focusing on diet can help increase fat loss and speed up the process. That’s also why we suggest that people meal plan for the best results. What does the process entail? It involves planning meals and cooking them ahead in a day or two, then packing those meals in individual serving sizes. Most people use the weekends to cook and do the planning and shopping mid-week. Some people double the recipes and pack extra away for a later use, ultimately having enough reserves to skip meal planning for a week or more.

In order to do anything worthwhile, you need to plan.

Planning a week’s menu is the tough part for most people, but we’re here to provide assistance. People who plan often use the weekly sales or coupons available to help save money. You create your shopping list and then check your pantry and refrigerator to make sure you need the items on the list. That can save duplicate purchases and prevent waste. When you meal plan, try to use meats and vegetables in a number of ways. For instance, if you have baked chicken one day, make chicken salad the next and use some of the meat for soup another day. The same is true for vegetables. Roasted veggies can taste quite delicious on a salad.

When you do all the cooking at once, you don’t use as much energy.

If you’re roasting a chicken and beef at the same time, the cost of running the oven is cut in half. For those veggies, washing and preparing them for use, such as cutting celery sticks, can provide easy additions to salads and soup, plus be great as a snack that’s healthy. When you’re boiling a chicken, you can add celery, carrots and onion to make a stock for soup. If you have any leftover veggies at the end of the week, they can be used in a soup for the weekend or following week.

Save money on gas and groceries.

As noted before, meal plans help you save by planning your menu around sales and coupons. It also helps ensure you don’t have to run to the grocery every day but can shop all at once. Make sure you eat before you make your shopping trip so you stick with the list and don’t add extras like cookies and snacks. It can be another big savings.

  • Freeze broth, extra meat or poultry and fresh herbs that aren’t used for another week. Always make sure you date and label what you freeze. Organize your freezer to keep all items segregated in their own category.
  • Make sure you include snacks in your meal plans. You can make your own trail mix, create fruit and yogurt parfaits or create other healthy, yet lower calorie or carbohydrate snacks. Having fruit like watermelon cubed and ready will make it easier to use as a snack.
  • Plan meals around seasonal fruits and vegetables to save money. Try to buy from local farmers to ensure your produce is fresher. If you find a great deal on produce, buy extra and freeze it.
  • Pack food in individual serving sizes. Most people use freezer containers with sections, so when they’re ready to eat, all that is necessary is heating and serving. It’s quicker than waiting in the drive-through line.

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

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Do You Know Your BMI?

Do You Know Your BMI?

Published by on November 5, 2022 | Leave a response

Most clients at Iron Fit in San Antonio, TX, know their BMI and its significance. BMI stands for Body Mass Index and it’s a measure of fitness. It uses the relationship between height and weight to evaluate whether a person is underweight, normal, obese class I, obese class II or is extremely obese. While it can be a wake-up call for some people, it still has flaws and isn’t the ultimate answer to whether weight loss is necessary.

One flaw is that it doesn’t account for a very muscular body.

When someone is extremely muscular, they’ll look thinner than someone who is the same height and weighs the same but isn’t muscular. That’s because a cubic inch of muscle weighs more than a cubic inch of fat tissue. Twenty pounds of fat would require a bigger container than twenty pounds of muscle. A very muscular person might appear to be overweight if you simply looked at his or her BMI, but in reality, would be very fit. It takes additional information to be conclusive about the person’s health and fitness.

How do you find your BMI?

The process is quite simple. There are charts available on the internet. In fact, your health care professional probably has one in his or her office. It’s a shortcut for the doctor. BMI uses a grid where either the weight is across the top of the chart in vertical rows and height is along the side in horizontal rows, or vice versa, and where the row with the height intersects with the row with the weight, that’s the person’s BMI number. When the number is below 18.5, it’s considered underweight, between 18.5 and 24.0 is normal and 25 to 29.9 it’s overweight. Numbers higher than that enter into the realm of obesity.

There are other variants besides the amount of muscle tissue that make BMI less predictive

People who have a larger bone structure will have a higher BMI number, even though they may be fitter. Bone structure and amount of muscle tissue aren’t the only things that need to be considered. Age, gender and how the fat is distributed also make a difference. If you’re relatively thin, but have a huge mid-section, your BMI might not reflect a problem. However, the fat that accumulates around the middle is the most dangerous type of fat for health, called visceral fat, yet the BMI didn’t identify the problem.

  • BMI is just one measure. It’s important to get a thorough assessment of health, including using waist circumference as an indicator. For men with a waist bigger than 40 inches and women with a waist bigger than 34 inches, the risk of serious conditions increases.
  • A newer method called RFM is actually a better indicator of overall health than BMI. It uses a formula that compares height to waist measurement. It can be used in conjunction with BMI.
  • Most doctors still use BMI, as do insurance companies. The reason is that it’s simply easier to do. For doctors, it’s just one starting point with observation and other indicators used.
  • Other tests to check for amount of besides BMI are either more expensive or less reliable. They include underwater weighing, MRI scans and skinfold tests.

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

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Are All Types Of Lettuce Created Equal?

Are All Types Of Lettuce Created Equal?

Published by on October 25, 2022 | Leave a response

If you only know of one kind of lettuce, iceberg or head lettuce, you’re missing a lot of delicious flavors and a world of nutrients. There are many types of lettuce and most of them are far more nutritious than the lettuce you find in salads from restaurants, on your hamburger deluxe/Big Mac or at the salad bar. Iceberg lettuce may be popular, but it’s not nutritious and is mostly water. Making some changes to other types of lettuce can boost your nutritional intake.

Some salad bars have Caesar salad with Romaine lettuce, which is better.

Just like dark green leaf lettuce, Romaine lettuce contains vitamin K and many other types of antioxidants that help boost your immune system and prevent serious conditions, such as cancer, just not as many as the dark green leafy lettuce, but far more than iceberg lettuce. Romaine lettuce has higher amounts of vitamins and minerals. It’s a great source of folate, vitamin A and vitamin C.

Green leaf and red leaf lettuce also fare better than iceberg.

If you’re faithfully eating those packaged salads of iceberg lettuce with a few croutons and shavings of carrots, you’re not getting all the benefits you should be getting and paying far too much. Try some green leaf and red leaf lettuce with baby spinach leaves instead. Not only will the baby spinach leaves add nutrition, the green leaf, oakleaf and red leaf lettuce have more nutrients than iceberg, but fewer than Romaine.

Oakleaf lettuce has a nutty flavor.

Oakleaf lettuce has a distinctively nutty flavor that can add a lot to a salad. It contains higher amounts of vitamin K and A, with minor amounts of C, B9, B6 and B3. Oakleaf lettuce also provides phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, fiber and selenium to your diet, but is still 95% water. The extra flavor it adds makes it well worth adding to a salad. Boston, also called bibb and buttercrunch lettuce, has a buttery flavor. Arugula tastes peppery. Baby gem lettuce tastes sweet and crispy.

  • Not all lettuce is really lettuce. For instance, arugula comes from a different family called the brassica family, which is more closely related to mustard than lettuce.
  • Endives, like radicchio and frisee, are often considered part of the group containing lettuce. Just like arugula, they come from a different family, the chicory family. These types of lettucey substitutes are more bitter.
  • If you’re looking for more flavorful types of lettuce that are also unique in appearance, consider heirloom varieties like Lollo Rosso, which is deep burgundy with ruffled leaves. It also has a nutty taste.
  • Including a mix of lettuce and leafy greens like spinach and kale, can create a salad rife with nutrients. Using baby greens can also create a delicious salad that will add to your nutritional profile.

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

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Ditch The Diet Culture And Get Healthy For Good

Ditch The Diet Culture And Get Healthy For Good

Published by on October 15, 2022 | Leave a response

A lot of people in San Antonio, TX, are extremely focused on diet. They almost make it their life’s focus. They are the people that are part of the diet culture. What’s wrong with that? It not only takes the focus off real living, but it also gives you a warped relationship with food. You should enjoy food, not make it your enemy or best friend. It’s one of life’s pleasures that also keeps you fueled and healthy. If you want the best way to get healthy, quit the diet culture and start focusing instead on healthier foods you enjoy.

Focusing on diet, especially a strict diet, is counterproductive.

The diet culture entraps you in a life of deprivation and shame. That’s right! If you’re constantly on a diet, you’re constantly depriving yourself of the things you want to eat but “can’t.” When you do step out of the shadow of a diet and consume a special treat, then most people fall into the pit of shame that they’ve destroyed their diet and have failed. That constant rebuffing takes all the pleasure out of life.

When you fail at a diet, what’s normally the next step?

If you ate that cookie or cake, it feels good to give yourself a treat after being so deprived. People with a diet mindset often feel they’ve failed, so why bother? Instead of just eating a cookie, they often eat the whole dozen and clean up the entire quart of ice cream, too. It’s an all-or-nothing part of people in the diet culture. When you focus more on eating healthy, rather than a specific diet, you can eat a cookie or two without feeling ashamed or depressed. You simply don’t make it a habit.

You make food too important in your life when you have a diet mindset.

You can’t go to specific restaurants or any restaurant for that matter, if you’re part of the diet culture. Even those with salad bars may not carry the food you’re supposed to eat at supper or lunch. It takes all the pleasure out of eating and puts the focus more on the exact food, calorie count or precise serving. You’d be far better off and enjoy life and your meals more if you simply focused on replacing starchy foods with more green, leafy ones and limiting the amount of foods you eat that contain added sugar.

  • Savor the food you eat. Start with healthy food and eat slowly, focusing on flavor and texture with each bite. It’s called mindful eating and can help you lose weight without all the drama of dieting.
  • Some people think of sweet treats and fattening foods as rewards. Don’t do that. It makes unhealthy food far more important than it should be.
  • Learning more about your own eating habits can be more important than a diet. Do you eat when you’re sad, frustrated or bored? Find a better way to deal with those emotions and eat healthy meals at other times.
  • You can do many things to help curb your appetite that don’t involve dieting. Drinking a cold glass of water before a meal, getting up and moving around or having healthy snacks, like fresh veggies, ready help.

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

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Is Chick-Fil-A Healthy?

Is Chick-Fil-A Healthy?

Published by on October 5, 2022 | Leave a response

Are you surprised to hear that some Chick-Fil-A menu items are actually healthy ? While their original fried chicken sandwiches and dipping chicken fingers might not make the cut, there are healthy items on the menu. Just switching from fried chicken to grilled chicken can make a huge difference and provide a healthy protein option. It not only cuts the calories, it cuts the fat and leaves you feeling less tired after you eat.

Have a breakfast option that’s nutritious and delicious.

A healthy breakfast is a good way to start the day. There’s nothing better than the Chick-Fil-A egg white grill. It’s low in calories with only 290 and has only 8 grams of fat. You’ll boost your protein intake with 26 grams, which can help you feel full the entire morning. Scrambled eggs, hash browns and two types of cheese blend in the hash brown scramble bowl. You can personalize it and make it healthier by including grilled fillet and removing the hash browns.

If you want a healthy lunch or dinner, try one of their salads.

Whether you choose the grilled chicken filet salad or the lemon kale Caesar salad with grilled nuggets, you’ll be opting for a healthy choice, just choose a vinaigrette for the grilled chicken filet salad and cut back on the salad dressing for the Caesar salad. The market salad has a wonderful mix of lean protein with fruit and vegetables and a little fat from the blue cheese. The spicy Southwest salad is another good option, but again, watch out for the dressing. It’s high in extra calories.

Side dishes provide extra fruit and nutrients.

The fruit cup is one option that is perfect for a healthy diet. It contains mandarin oranges, strawberries, apples and blueberries. It has 60 calories, has zero fat and even contains a gram of protein. Another fruity option for dessert is the Greek yogurt parfait. For an extra 210 calories, totaling 270, the Greek yogurt cup also includes fresh berries, nut harvest granola and of course, Greek yogurt, which is an excellent protein source.

  • The Chick-Fil-A cool wrap is another healthy lunch or dinner option that’s not just healthy, but easy to eat on the go. It has 660 calories and contains grilled chicken, green leaf lettuce, Monterey Jack and cheddar rolled in a flaxseed flour flatbread.
  • The grilled Chick-Fil-A nuggets are a healthy alternative to the fried nuggets and a good choice if you’re cutting carbs and calories. Just be mindful of the extra calories and fat in the sauces before you dip.
  • If you have a hankering for fries that you just can’t shake, the waffle potato fries at Chick-Fil-A could be a better option. They have more potato than a thinner fry, so less fat. It’s not the best option, but better than regular fries.
  • The kale crunch side salad can be a side, a mid-afternoon snack or a whole meal. Choose it instead of the regular side salad that adds avocado lime ranch dressing for an extra 310 calories.

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

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Is Soy A Good Source Of Protein?

Is Soy A Good Source Of Protein?

Published by on September 25, 2022 | Leave a response

At Iron Fit in San Antonio, TX, we help clients with both nutritional information and an exercise program. One important part of providing the nutrients for building muscles is making sure you have adequate protein. For those who choose a more plant based diet, it can be more difficult to get the quality of complete proteins unless you have careful planning. What are good plant protein sources? Soy is one of the options that is often named as a top source of protein.

Soy is extremely versatile.

There are a lot of ways to get soy into your diet. You can use soy milk, opt for tempeh, tofu, natto, miso or use soy protein powder as an alternative protein source. Soy adds more than just protein to your diet. It has many vitamins and minerals, as well. Edamame, whole soybeans, have even become a favorite snack food. Like animal milk, soy milk is made into cheese like spongy curds, called tofu. Tofu is versatile and often used for extra protein at a meal.

The soy products you choose makes a difference.

Soy is generally a good source of protein, though the specific nutrient makeup depends on the form. For instance, soy protein isolate has much more protein per serving than tofu or soy milk. Traditional uses of soy, such as miso, tempeh, edamame, natto and miso are minimally processed compared to protein powders from soy. A half cup of firm calcium-set tofu has 22 grams of protein compared to 8 grams of protein in soy milk.

Soy is a good source of protein, but not the best.

While soy protein is a complete protein and a good choice for people who opt for a plant based lifestyle, it’s not necessarily the best protein if you want to boost your protein intake. A cup of milk made from soybeans has 8 grams of protein as noted previously. That’s the same amount of protein in a cup of cow’s milk, but you don’t get the same benefits from it if you’re building muscle. Soy isn’t as bioavailable, digestible or has the same muscle building capacity. It does contain methionine and lysine, necessary for muscle building, but not as significant amounts as animal protein sources. For building muscles, focus more on animal products like those with whey protein or casein.

  • Soy does have other benefits. Soy outshines red meat when it comes to reducing the risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. It’s linked lower LDL and triglyceride levels. The phytoestrogens in soy may be the reason for that.
  • Soy protein may also help you lose weight easier and benefit your blood glucose levels. Due to many of the nutrients, it’s also known for reducing the risk of chronic disease.
  • You’ll get a wide variety of nutrients from consuming soy protein. It’s higher in calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc and dietary fiber.
  • People are often worried about consuming too much soy, due to fears of the phytoestrogens causing cancer, genetic modification or the antinutrients in soy that block the ability to absorb calcium, iron and zinc. If you eat a varied diet, there’s no evidence these fears are substantiated.

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

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Are There Dangers To Drinking Raw Milk?

Are There Dangers To Drinking Raw Milk?

Published by on September 15, 2022 | Leave a response

There are people who believe that drinking raw milk or consuming raw milk products like cheese and yogurt is more beneficial for health, while others, including the CDC, suggest that drinking raw milk can be dangerous. Raw milk is milk that isn’t pasteurized, heated to 161 degrees for 15-20 seconds to kill bacteria, or homogenized, put under pressure to break up milk fat and gives it better consistency.

Advocates of raw milk believe it’s easier to digest for those lactose intolerant.

If you’re lactose intolerant, you don’t produce enough of the enzyme lactase to digest the lactose, a milk sugar, to digest the lactose. It then ferments in the bowels causing abdominal distress. While raw and pasteurized milk both contain the same amount of lactose, pasteurizing does reduce the amount of lactobacillus, the bacteria that produces lactase and aids in digestion. In theory, it should make a difference, but a study showed it didn’t.

People who support drinking raw milk believe it contains more nutrients.

Not only do they believe pasteurizing depletes the milk of vitamins, minerals and carbs, but also of fatty acids and proteins. One meta-analysis of 40 different studies found there was a loss of water soluble B vitamins and C, which is already minimal in milk. Fat-soluble vitamins A, E, D and K also decreased, but it was extremely minor. The fatty acid profile and protein profile remained the same, since both are heat stable. In fact, pasteurizing may actually make the fatty acids easier to digest.

One thing missing from pasteurized milk is harmful bacteria.

Before pasteurization was discovered, bovine tuberculosis spread dramatically in both Europe and the US. In a 25-year period in the early 1900s, over 65,000 people died from dairy contaminated with harmful bacteria. Milk is a good medium for bacteria to grow and it comes in contact with a lot of potentially contaminated equipment before it reaches your table. It can contain a wide variety of bacteria, including E.coli, Listeria and Staph aureus. It can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, miscarriage, hemolytic uremic syndrome, chronic inflammatory conditions, reactive arthritis, and occasionally death. People at higher risk, like older adults, children, those already weakened and pregnant women.

  • Of the 4,413 dairy-related illnesses reported between 1993 and 2006, over 60% were from raw dairy milk and cheese. If you narrowed it down to milk-only illnesses, 82% were from raw milk and 18% from pasteurized milk.
  • Of the illnesses reported from milk only, the likelihood of hospitalization was 13 times more likely if the infection came from raw milk, compared to pasteurized milk.
  • Raw milk advocates say it provides protection against asthma and allergies. It makes no difference in milk allergies, but studies do show a correlation between lower risk of asthma and other allergies. One study shows a 54% reduction in allergies and 49% reduction of asthma.
  • There may be some minor benefits from drinking raw milk, but overall, those benefits are outweighed by the risks. You and your family are safer with pasteurized milk.

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

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Have You Ever Tried "Mini-Workouts"?

Have You Ever Tried “Mini-Workouts”?

Published by on September 5, 2022 | Leave a response

What are mini-workouts? Just as the name implies, they’re short workouts. You can do mini-workouts two different ways. You can break your traditional workout into three or four sections, doing mini workouts throughout the day or just do a shorter workout that’s extremely intense. The more intense the workout, the less time you have to spend exercising to get the same benefits. Mini workouts can cut out the wasted time resting between exercises or time spent talking to others.

More focus, more intensity and more results.

If you’re running, running at peak speed will burn far more calories than a leisurely run. The same is true when doing other exercises. However, if you’re doing strength building, it’s pounds added to the weight you’re lifting that makes a difference. You have to go slower to activate muscle fibers and get the most from each movement.

Mini workouts can be HIIT workouts or circuit training.

High intensity interval training—HIIT—focuses on a high intensity phase and alternating it with a recovery phase. You work at highest intensity for a short period, sometimes less than a minute, and workout at a recovery pace for the same amount of time or more. Circuit training can be made more intense by resting less between sets and exercises. Both can make a traditional workout a mini workout.

Short workouts can fit into your schedule easier.

If you’re cramped for time, you might find enough time for two or three mini-workouts of average intensity, two or three times during the day. Studies show that doing two 15 minute exercises or three 10 minute workouts provides the same benefit as a half hour of exercise. If you’re creating your mini workout by boosting the intensity, you’ll be more focused with less tendency to be distracted other things that can be a waste of time.

  • Several studies show that fast, short, high intensity workouts, which can be as short as 7 minutes, can provide as much benefit as an hour of lifting weights or a longer run.
  • Working out for a long time may actually be a deterrent for some, knowing how rushed it makes the day. Short workouts are easier to fit into your schedule and more appealing mentally to some. It can help keep you on track for workouts.
  • When you keep your workout shorter, the potential for overworking muscle groups is kept at a minimum. However, when you do mini-workouts, you need to pay special attention to proper form.
  • If you do several short workouts throughout the day, you’ll not only boost your metabolism during the workout, but keep it working at its peak throughout the day. You’ll be less prone to exhaustion near the end of the workout and be more efficient.

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

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Tai Chi Might Help Reduce Belly Fat

Tai Chi Might Help Reduce Belly Fat

Published by on August 25, 2022 | Leave a response

If you’ve ever been to Iron Fit in San Antonio, Texas, you know we tailor programs for each individual that help build endurance and strength. However, on those days away from the gym, active recovery is important and to achieve that, Tai Chi, is a good choice. Not only do the gentle movements help build endurance and flexibility, they can attack belly fat and aid in slimming your midsection to boost your efforts for weight loss. Tai Chi is especially good for people over the age of 50 who want to lose weight around their middle.

What is Tai Chi?

Tai Chi comes from the part of qigong, a system that’s part of martial arts training and Chinese medicine. It’s thousands of years old and combines the movements of martial arts with a form of meditation to create slow movements that coordinate the body and mind. While it can be spiritual, it also can be a prologue for martial arts fighting or simply a good form of exercise that isn’t high impact.

A study in Hong Kong compared 380 people.

The 380 people were divided into three groups. One group participated in a 12-week program of Tai Chi. The second group participated in traditional exercise programs and the third group did nothing. As expected, the two groups that exercised lost inches off their waistline in three months and kept the inches off when checked six months later.

The Chinese did a new study of people over the age of 50 who had a waist circumference of 35+ inches.

There were 543 participants in this study. All were overweight but had no disease or limited mobility. The people either participated in Tai Chi, conventional exercise or nothing at all. Both the group that did Tai Chi for 12 weeks and the group that did conventional exercise lost inches around their waist, with those doing conventional exercises losing slightly more. That makes it an excellent, low impact, recovery exercise that can help you reach weight loss goals. It’s an ideal complement to traditional exercise programs.

  • When you lift weights or do strength-building exercises, you need to skip several days before you work the same area to allow the muscle tissue to heal and rebuild. Walking, bicycling and even Tai Chi can fill those days.
  • There are five types of Tai Chi with Chen being the oldest. Chen involves jumping and kicking movements combined with slow movements. Yang Tai Chi is the type often used today and is slow graceful movements. Wu, Sun and Hao are the other forms.
  • Tai Chi can help relieve stress, boost flexibility, increase cognitive abilities and improve strength and stamina. It helps improve fine motor skips and improves balance.
  • Tai Chi is especially good for seniors and those with injured joints. It’s low impact and a good companion for people involved in strength-building workouts.

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

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Stretches That Help Relieve Stress

Stretches That Help Relieve Stress

Published by on August 15, 2022 | Leave a response

Stress can cause a lot of problems, from tension headaches to high blood pressure. Unfortunately, when people are under stress, particularly if it comes from a deadline, they often fail to take the time to deal with it. It only takes a minute or two to do stretches, but it’s well worth the time. Stretching can help relieve stress and boost your energy so you’ll actually work faster. Whether you’re trying to get rid of a tension headache or just want some relief from the pressure of the day, there are stretches that relieve stress that you can do to bring you the relief you need to keep on going.

Many people experience tension in their shoulders and neck first.

It’s the nature of most people’s work that causes the tension in the neck and shoulders. Either they’re bent over at an angle that’s uncomfortable (like a kitchen or work counter that’s a little too low) or sit at a desk all day and store up that tension in their shoulders. It can cause headaches, TMJ or just a painful neck. While seated, put your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers at the base of your neck. Slowly tilt your head forward as you squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold for 15 seconds. Release and repeat three more times. You’ll feel refreshed quickly.

Finish off the neck stretches with a few more stretches.

Wrap your left arm around your head, with fingers touching the right ear. Tug on your head gently to bring the left ear toward the left shoulder, breathing deeply as you do. Hold for six breathes and then do the other side. Finish it off by dropping your head toward your chest for a count of six breaths and then dropping it backward for the same length of time.

Your thighs, groin, chest and shoulders will relax with low lunges.

An overall stretch that can help boost your energy, while also relaxing your body is a low lunge. Don’t push yourself on this one, it’s meant for relaxation. Begin in low lunge position with the left leg bent and foot right under the knee. The right leg should be behind you with the knee on the floor. Place your hands beside your body behind your shoulders and breathe deeply, holding the position. Switch legs, putting the left leg behind then add another step in the same position, but raising your hands toward the ceiling as high as you can. Don’t stretch beyond the point where it feels good.

  • Kneel in front of a couch or chair with space in front to extend your body so your forearms just touch when you lean forward. Lengthen your spine as you lean forward and hinge at the hips. Hold the position with head down, then return to upright position.
  • Roll a towel and grab one end in each hand. Lay on your back and loop the towel around one foot. With the other knee bent, foot flat on the floor, raise the leg looped in the air, pulling it toward you with the towel.
  • Push you bottom against the wall and raise your legs, resting them on the wall at a right angle to the body. Try to straighten them as you do. Hold the position and allow muscles to relax.
  • Rocking from side to side, whether sitting on the floor with legs crossed or laying on the floor with knees up in a V position, can help roll out the kinks and stretch the back, bringing relief.

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

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