Fun Facts About YOU

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I love the human body. To me it is the greatest combination of art and science ever and I am thrilled that my work involves it.

The more you study it and know how it works and moves, the more you will want to look after it.

It really is the only thing in this world that you own and will keep for your entire life so take care of it and it will take care of you.

Did you know…

The human body releases about ½ litre of water everyday just from breathing.

The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as Wikipedia and it operates on as much power as a 10 watt light bulb. Nerve impulses travel to and from the brain at 170 mph.

Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring 2 litres of water to a boil.

It is impossible to tickle yourself as your brain is ready for it vs. when someone else does it.

The life span of a human hair is on average between 3 and 7 years. We lose 60-140 strands per day and you have to lose about 50% of your scalp hairs before it becomes apparent.

Your teeth start growing 6 months before birth.

Babies have 300 bones but adults have 206 due to some fusing together.

Your nose can distinguish more than 10,000 scents and women are better smellers than men.

Your small intestine, which is your largest internal organ is about 24 feet long .Your skin is your largest external organ.

The strongest muscle you have is your tongue and one of ( if not) the strongest bones is your jaw.

The largest cell is a female’s egg ( it can actually be seen with the naked eye) and the smallest cell is a man’s sperm.

The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades. The reason it doesn’t eat away at your stomach is that the cells of your stomach wall renew themselves so frequently that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days.

We are all spectacular masterpieces, inside and out!

 

Is That True? Fitness Facts and Myths

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siteIDAs a fitness professional, I get asked a lot of questions about anything and everything related to fitness, food and health. Luckily all of these areas interest me greatly and that is why I do what I do for a living. Here a few myths that I am happy to debunk and the reasons behind them.

THE MORE TIME THAT YOU SPEND IN THE GYM, THE BETTER RESULTS YOU WILL HAVE.

The quality or intensity of a workout is far more important than the quantity of time of that you spend at workouts. My workouts consist of about 20 minutes of intense cardio, 5-10 minutes of weights and 10 minutes of stretching. I mix things up quite a bit so things are always changing but the only time that I am in the gym for an hour or more is with clients.

PRE-WORKOUT STRETCHING REDUCES RISK OF INJURY OR STRETCHING IS NOT NECESSARY.

Stretching is a very important aspect of a complete fitness program. Stretching your muscles helps to reduce injuries by increasing range of motion. However, your body prefers to be stretched at its warmest point (after a workout) when you’re hot and sweaty. Stretching before a workout is not recommended as you may harm connective tissue like ligaments, tendons. Stretching the specific muscle groups that you’re working between or after sets is ok as well if you’re short on time. Hold each stretch for about 30 seconds. Research has shown that longer than that is of no increased benefit.

DOING A GAZILLION CRUNCHES WILL GIVE ME A SIX PACK.

There is no such thing at spot reducing ANY part of your body. Sorry. It’s not like plastic surgery where you can have your most hated body part removed immediately. You’ve got to earn that six pack and you start by getting rid of the layer of fat covering it. We all have the “six pack” but it’s just covered by fat. Get rid of the fat and voila- your six pack appears. The tricky part is figuring out how to do that, right? Despite what many people believe or hope, diet and exercise COMBINED is the way to achieve that.

There are no quick fixes, no magic powders. You reap what you sow when it comes to your health. Your body truly is the only thing you are guaranteed to carry with you throughout your lifetime so take care of it and it will take care of you.

If you have any fitness questions, leave a comment below.

To your good health!

 

Yay, Yippee, Summer’s Here!

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Well with the beautiful sunshine and warmth that we had this past weekend I think it is FINALLY safe to say that summer has arrived. YAY!

Summer is the time for outdoor adventures.Tune up the bike, inline skates, dust off the clubs, racquets or baseball gear, get the dog off the couch and go outside and play.

Don’t you remember what is was like when you were a kid and as soon as your mom wanted you to go out  you would be out all day and night until the street lights came on. Once those lights came on you knew the fun was over. We would ride our bikes all over town without counting distance, calories, heart rate or time. We just rode and we would roller skate up and down newly paved driveways ( they were always so smooth) We never stretched afterwards; we just threw the bike or other gear on the lawn, ran inside and drank cherry Kool Aid.
Oh those were the days! Now we need to stretch just to get out of bed in the morning.

As a Personal Trainer I try to make a client’s workout as fun as possible even though they don’t always see it that way. I like to play and I bring them into my world for an hour a day. We use a lot of equipment including weights and I make my clients pick up all of the weights off the floor and put them back as I go behind them and put them all back on the floor. That, by the way, is a great workout!
I don’t record too much during workouts. My clients know when they are making progress. They can see it and they can feel it. It’s just like a Chef who knows how much to put in a dish without going by a recipe.

So, the time is now. Put your adult way of thinking that you use Monday to Friday 9 to 5 away, grab your gear and go out and play. Your body and mind will like it and your spirit will love it.

Happy Summer and just remember that the street lights come on much later this season.

What plans do you have to make this THE best summer yet!

First Step to Maximum Wellness

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First Step To Maximum Wellness is the name of my fitness company so I thought I would tell you about the first step in my journey towards my career.

I had always been an active kid – playing all day long, interrupted only by the time spent in school. My friends and I played before school, during recess, after gulping down sandwiches at lunch, after school until dinner and then after dinner until THE STREET LIGHTS CAME ON. Oh, we hated when those lights came on because it meant that the fun was over. We were always running around and never seemed to get tired. Those were the days.  Now, we need a nap.

Next came the teenage years. They were also very fun but not as active. Getting in trouble was the name of the game back then. SMOKING. That changed everything. It changed the friends that I hung around with, it changed how people saw me and most importantly, it changed my activity level. My friends and I weren’t running around and playing anymore because we were being cool and we were SMOKIN’.

Smoking for me lasted 14 years. When I realized that I had smoked for half of my life, I said “Enough.” I took control back from that little white stick. I didn’t wait until I finished the  pack or for January 1st or some other  thing that would inevitably put this off. I ripped up the last 6 cigarettes, threw them away and never smoked again.

Best day of my life. Instead of smoking, I started to drink a glass of water every time I got a craving which wasn’t the same  but I knew  it was better for me.

Quitting smoking also led me back to tennis, which I loved to play when I was younger. So, I and three guy friends joined a gym that had indoor tennis. We were a disaster but we were playing again and that felt really good.

One day, I wandered into “THE WEIGHT ROOM- a place where few women had gone before. It was a much more intimidating place back then but it fascinated me and I soon found myself not just using the cardio machines but using the weight machines as well. It felt so empowering and from that point on, I knew.

I knew I would  be healthier, stronger and a more active person than I was during the last 14 years and that made me feel great. I knew that I wanted others to feel this way as well so I studied for what seemed like an eternity, and I became a Weight Training Instructor and finally, a Personal Trainer with a few different specialties.

Now I get to play for a living.

And best of all, I don’t have to come in when the street lights come on.