Healthy Nutrition Habits

Healthy Nutrition Habits

Too often people use excuses to justify bad eating habits.  In addition, extreme dieting during the week and extreme cheat meals on the weekends will produce no results. There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying your favorite guilty pleasure snack or meal. However, it is important that these snacks and meals are within your caloric goals. Food is fuel for performance.  Your body is a machine and healthy food is needed for it to function properly.  If you are struggling with your nutrition, start with setting 1 small nutrition habit at a time.  Once you master that nutrition habit, add a new nutrition habit.  Setting positive nutrition habits is a process.  You do not need to change everything all at one. Here are a few healthy nutrition habits that would be great to incorporate. Eating a balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats.Choosing foods that are minimally processed and free of added sugars and unhealthy fats.Eating in moderation and avoiding overeating.Staying hydrated by drinking enough water and…

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How to Stay Motivated At The Gym

How to Stay Motivated At The Gym

You said this was the year you are going to stick with the gym.  This is the year you will meal prep. This is the year that you will make fitness one of your priorities.  You successfully make it through the first two weeks of training. You survived the awkward feeling of getting back into the gym.  You are amazed that the first week soreness that can feel like being hit by a bus didn’t kill you. You are almost through the first month and you missed a few days of training. Fortunately, missing a couple days of training is not detrimental to success in your fitness journey.  How ever, you are not as excited and motivated to keep training as hard or as often. It is normal to feel this way towards training.  Eventually motivation will wear off but you need to focus on being disciplined.  Sticking to your routine will help you reach your goals and re-ignite your motivation. Here are a few tips to help stay motivated and discipline in the gym Set specific and achievable goals.Create…

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Top Reasons To Work With A Coach

There is endless information on fitness and nutrition on the internet/social media.  It is understandable for someone to believe that they do not need a coach.  However, there are many styles of training and nutrition.  With so much information, it can be confusing on where to start or what you should start with.  Year after year, many people start their fitness lifestyle journey without a coach and the end result being that they gave up or lost motivation. Here are the top reasons you should work with a fitness coach. ACCOUNTABILITY Everyone starts out motivated.  It is easy to make the right choices with food and make it to every single workout when you are motivated.  Once motivation ends, it is very easy to start saying “I’ll go to the gym tomorrow” or “I’ll eat better next week.”  This cycle of excuses will end with you not seeing the results  you were motivated to get.  Having a coach will help you stay accountable an discipline when motivation wears off. LEARN PROPER EXERCISE FORM There are many variations of pull ups,…

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Plank Benefits and Technique

Plank Benefits and Technique

The plank is an important exercise to master.  The plank helps improve your core strength, core stability and core anti-rotation.  Having a strong stable core will help you improve your performance on your compound lifts as wells as other athletic activities.  A strong core will also help you improve your posture. There are many variations of plank. For the purpose of this article, we are focusing on the basic plank hold.  The tips and techniques that will be discussed apply to all variations. Although the plank is primarily a core stability exercise, your entire body must be engaged in order to maintain proper form. Proper form and safety are always a top priority. Never sacrifice form to hold a plank longer than you are able to hold safely. Focus on making progress every time you perform this exercise. Remember to track your progress when you are training. If you are interested in more information about 1-on 1 training or online athletic coaching, follow the link below to book an appointments  or send us a message through the CONTACT US page.…

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Improve Your Kettle Bell Swings

Improve Your Kettle Bell Swings

Kettle bell swings are a great compound (multi joint) movement to build lean muscle in your legs and arms as well as improve overall endurance.  There are many different versions of kettle bell swings and each serve a different purpose.  However, back safety is always a priority of each version. Although your hips and knees are used in a kettle bell swing, it is a “hip dominant” exercise similar to how deadlifts are hip dominant. Most of the explosive power in a kettle bell swing is coming from your glutes in the hip drive portion of the exercise. A common mistake is that people try to make kettle bell swings a “knee dominant” exercise. In short, a lot of people do a squat and swing the kettle bell around. By doing this the momentum is making the kettle bell drop too low below your knees during the swing and is putting your lower back at risk.  If you lower back is burning or hurting the most, there is a strong possibility that you have too much knee flexion and the…

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Deadlift Tips and Check List

Deadlift Tips and Check List

Deadlift Check List The deadlift is a very important exercise to master. This is a compound (multi-joint movement) exercise that is beneficial inside and outside of the gym. Many people have a fear of hurting their back from doing deadlifts. However, the reality is you are much more likely to hurt your back outside of the gym by picking up something up with bad form that only weighs around 20 pounds. The deadlift is very safe and effective as long as you keep good form the number 1 priority. Building strength is very important. Keeping good form is the most important. If you cannot maintain proper form than you are not ready to lift heavier. This applies to every exercise. Never sacrifice form to add more weight. Here is a quick check list for a proper deadlift. Deadlift Starting Position  Step up to the bar Bar should be over the center of your feet (center of gravity) Grab the bar with your hands; shoulders should be slightly in front of knees Slightly bend knees until shins tough the bar (Do…

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Want To Be A More Youthful You? Try This

    Looking great and feeling even better is not a mind over matter process. It is the result of hard work that you put into yourself on the inside and out. Ultimate Fitness knows this and strives to bring you the most up to date and relevant information on how to stay well. The following blog post offers content that can help you do just that.   Youthful Exuberance   For those of us who have been sitting comfortably in adulthood for a decade or more, we tend to measure our wellness by how old we feel. Fortunately, 40 is the new 20, and there are many ways to maintain our youthful looks and feelings without having a midlife crisis. A few of these are to:   Dress for comfort. While getting dolled up for a night out can make you feel beautiful, nothing screams confidence like being comfortable. Don’t be afraid to invest in some comfortable and flattering pieces, like a pair of form-fitting leggings, a new bra, sleep pants, or a cozy robe to wear around the…

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Tips To Stay Accountable And Healthy On The Weekend

One the biggest mistakes people make on their fitness journey is overly sacrificing and depriving themselves during the week and going over board on the weekend.   Your discipline Monday – Friday is 120% .  You train hard, have your protein shakes, and eat chicken and rice because you are committed to your goals.  Friday night come around, and you begin feel like you “deserve” or “earned” you cheat meal.   Yes, you did earn your cheat meal.  However, there is a big difference between having a cheat meal as a reward and binge eating away all of your progress.   The important thing is to have balance in your life with fitness and nutrition.  Whether your goal is gain muscle or lose body fat, you should not feel deprived or like you are missing out on life.  Today the tips in this article is to help give  ideas on how to have balance in  your  weekends and still enjoy yourself.   DON’T SKIP MEALS A common mistake is skip breakfast because of the huge meal that is coming later in the…

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ULTIMATE FITNESS COACHING

ULTIMATE FITNESS COACHING

During these turbulent times, everyone is adapting to a different lifestyle.  However, all the rapid change has caused many people to lose their motivation to keep their routine active  and healthy. During the quarantine time, it is very common to watch tv more than usual, snack more than usual, and workout less.  This quarantine is temporary, and we can not allow ourselves to set bad unhealthy habits.  Allowing the excess tv and snacking will make it difficult to start an active lifestyle again. Although working out with your trainer in person or going to the gym is not currently an option, you still can have the motivation and accountability with you trainer.   Today there are endless options of “ONDEMAND” workouts, live streams, or workout plans available. There are many shortcoming of these options.  If you miss a workout on a live stream or “ONDEMAND”, who will follow up with you?  If you are not hitting  your daily nutrition goals, who is going to reach out to you to provide healthy food options?  If you do not understand or a have…

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Wellness-Focused Actions to Help Fight Obesity

It’s well known that the country is going through an obesity epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one third of the adult population is obese. Unhealthy weight can cause a domino effect of physical problems, from diabetes to heart disease and muscle, bone and joint disorders. In addition to the personal health ramifications of obesity, the epidemic overburdens our healthcare system with an estimated $147 billion annual medical price tag.   Although fighting obesity is a challenge that is by no means easy, the actual plan of attack is fairly easy to understand. Healthy weight results from a lifestyle that embraces physical activity and relies on healthy food as fuel for life, not as a source of comfort. In simple terms, to avoid obesity or reverse it, individuals should exercise more and eat less. Let’s look at these two simple components, and how other factors can help support a healthy relationship with exercise and food.   Add activity to your life, no matter what diet you follow   Daily activity is important for maintaining…

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